On Saturday, at Phoenix Park, the opening of the exhibition “Des Fleurs au carré” took place. An event attended by the artist Sergio Saad and Marc Concas, Municipal Councilor of Nice, representing Christian Estrosi.
That morning, the Cassini room was crowded. And for good reason, Sergio Saad was able to unveil his work and discuss it with those present. An exhibition that extends until October 30, 2020.
A poetic blend of painting and photography
“Let me guide you through my garden”, invites Sergio Saad. Around forty of his photographic works are on display, in various formats and mediums. Image duos, combining floral shots and details from his older paintings, digitally reworked. “I took photos of my own work, enlarged them, then reworked them on the computer, in the same way I reworked the shots of Nature. After that, I set out to find those that could go together, to form pairs”, explains the artist.
It’s about twenty years that separate the two photos of each piece, “images that weren’t born to go together, but which complement each other like two halves searching for each other, words and music of a silent song that I dedicate to Nature, a source of poetic sentiment”, adds Sergio Saad. Photographs of flowers, taken in the green spaces of Nice, such as Phoenix Park, the Coulée Verte, but also in the botanical gardens of Rio, Ephrussi de Rothschild, Hanbury (Italy), and those of Kyoto, Himeji, and Tokyo.
Giving his paintings a second chance
Originally from Rio de Janeiro, Sergio Saad decided to visit Europe in 1981, then returned and settled in Nice. He fully devoted himself to his vocation: being a painter. He exhibited his works in France and abroad, and in 2005, held his last exhibition at the Galerie de la Marine.
He felt the need to give these works a second life. “My painting was asking me to give it a second chance. I thought that associating them with my work on Nature could be one”, he explains. “I don’t quite see myself as a photographer, I remain a painter, simply instead of using brushes and pots of paint, I use a camera and a computer”, adds the artist.
