The gallery is delighted to present a solo exhibition by Jérôme Fortin entitled: Dance: choreographic variations for the eye which includes two series of monotypes Danser and Lignes.
"The series Danser declines the same theme in more than fifty works. Jérôme Fortin folds, unfolds and refolds strips of paper. He then prints these folds on a sheet of paper that retains only their traces, only their reliefs. The support keeps in memory the gesture of the artist.
From afar, the visitor embraces the works in their whiteness. Their similar format unites them in a coherent whole. Up close, their composition differentiates them. To discover their uniqueness, Fortin invites the viewer to move gently in front of each of them. By changing the point of view, the viewer makes different triangles, rectangles and polygons appear and disappear. The artist plays with our visual perceptions. Under the effect of the play of light and shadow, the surface comes to life. The background and the shapes alternate. The curious eye sees emerge a small ballet of abstract geometric forms that overlap, intersect and overlap. The fleeting shapes play hide-and-seek in the grooves of the paper. Some go to the limits of the support to escape. Their asymmetry gives rhythm to the surface. The diagonal, vertical and horizontal lines energize the compositions and guide the eye in a playful and delicate tête-à-tête. The visible and the invisible dialogue on the paper, letting us glimpse the elusive. Each person creates his own little choreography, invents his own poetry. From the fine prints, the spectator guesses the original foldings, imagines them. The dance of forms exists in the magical and ephemeral encounter between the works and the attentive eye.
Fortin exhibits minimalist works. The large formats of the previous series give way to intimist works. The artist abandons the colors, the black and white contrasts, the mangas, the geographical maps, the lotto tickets and the coloring books so often used. The drawing of hollows and reliefs becomes the only motif. Here, no more found and recycled objects, no more collages or assemblages (Cabinets of Curiosities, Marines). If Fortin has produced numerous sculptural works, it is with great subtlety that he now explores the three dimensions and the materiality of paper. With Danser, the artist makes the folds explode in all directions on the surface. They unfold and escape the horizontality that has dominated part of his production (Écrans, Mamoru, Série noire, Série grise). Fortin purifies and renews his language without losing the essence of his creative process and his artistic signature: a love for repetition, serial work, paper folding, and the transformation of a familiar material.
With Danser, Jérôme Fortin presents works that amaze those who take the time to let their gaze waltz over the surface and their body move delicately in the space in a small contemplative dance." - Ariane Léonard, art historian
The gallery acknowledges with appreciation the support of SODEC in the presentation of this exhibition.
