EXPOSITION - HERVÉ CREFF

Opening April 13, 2024 from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm Another fleeting, privileged encounter with Hervé Creff to better apprehend the nature and depth of his current work. Hervé navigates between the two poles of abstraction (in the sense of purification and simplification) and figuration. This duality gives rise to a state of mind that enables him to confront his artistic universe, to apprehend it and to express it on canvas and/or paper. His work is nevertheless introspective and instinctive, guided by a desire to let go. This process is coupled with a quest for personal centering and a desire for meditative research in favor of the physical act of painting. The vitality and elegance of the gesture sublimate the achrome surface of the support and its surfacing. The space of painting is thus established. For Hervé Creff, each painting is a personal and sincere experience. Outside the studio, through the contemplation of landscapes and their exploration, the mental exploitation of memories takes hold. In the studio, this is followed by a constantly evolving desire for purity. He searches for, or rather finds, what resembles the essence of a form of representation, without becoming locked into it. His working methods, set up but not set in stone, play on the effects of plating and scraping, contributing to a constant search for harmony, texturing light. Hervé is wary of preconceived ideas. Freed from the shackles of reason, he can give free rein to his instincts and emotions. In his approach, certain motifs recur: volcanoes, horses, Mickeys, sometimes enigmatic silhouettes, under a mask of familiarity tinged with mystery. These elements seem to emerge without premeditation. We are at the center of an initiation, the object of a contemplative invitation. A closer look at his latest works reveals an enrichment of his expression. Hervé slips into a richer, more diversified universe. An assertive duality that contrasts the rigor of composition with the exuberance of shapes and colors, creating a salvific marriage. Moving from controlled minimalism to a more baroque expression, the artist metamorphoses and dares to defy the limits of his own style to embrace renewed creative freedom.