Fragments of Paradise by Denis Polge

Fragments of Paradise
by 
Denis Polge

11 to 18 December 2010, 11.00 a.m. to 7.00 p.m.
Preview : Friday, 10 December at 6.30 p.m. , Galerie Romain Rolland
Chief Guest : Mr. Betrand Michaud, President of Hermès in India
Guest of Honor: Mr. Satish Gujral 

"Works of art nowadays try to speak: they want to comment, to criticize and to shock. I try to remain silent. If a painting can be spoken, it then becomes more a text than an aesthetic experience. What is there to say about my work apart from describing it? 

My last exhibitions have dealt with water; first, in a figurative way, by representing rivers and seashores and then, after discovering Asian papers, with a more abstract aesthetic. 
The works I intend to exhibit in the Romain Rolland Gallery show suggested and imaginary flowers. They are made on Thaï papers with ink washes and distemper techniques. 
This vegetal subject has a lot to do with my recent move to the south of France where I was born. My recurrent interest for nature has found a place to expand itself. Being able to grow plants and flowers has opened a new range of colors and motives. Along with the plants, my formats have expanded as well. And my palette, formerly organized around nuances of grey, has become more vivid and evocative of Southern tonalities. 
Formally, the paintings are initially made on wet surfaces. The wet papers allow a foggy, blurry aspect onto which I can layer “dry” and accurate detail. The contrast between blur and detail has been an important concern for me these past few years, along with the search for dynamic composition; it is a challenge for me to find a balance where the lack of order prevails. Disorder can be a very complex and invisible elaboration rather than merely a breach into harmony.
Showing my work in India holds particular meaning for me. Indeed, I discovered Indian miniatures in the same time as primitive Italian painting. Both had in common an unrealistic treatment of perspective that develop a certain narrative poetry. This art profoundly influenced my early works. It led me to paper, watercolor techniques, subtle sense of colors and motives… 
Although my approach to painting on paper has had a tendency to emancipate itself from details and narrative expression, I think it still conveys a certain treatment of color that is not unusual to the Indians…"
- Denis Polge

For more information, please contact us at 01143500217/218/222/230 or email us at culture_comm@afdelhi.org