July 22 – September 6, 2020

Arthur Grosbois

The two bodies of the palace are symmetrical.
The one on the right, turning its back to the valley and looking at the origin of the long, calm waterfall surrounded by mythological figures.
Once inside, the sound of the streaming water disappears.
The ear used to it, it has in fact only faded away.
The light is powerful here.
On the ceiling and on the walls, the frescoes develop forcefully on their fragile and rough surfaces. A little has been lost, but everything seems fair.
Through the window, we overlook the village.

One room in the summer presents a series of paintings initiated during Arthur Grosbois’ residence in Tuscany at Villa Ambretta in the summer of 2019.

The room is the workshop put at his disposal to develop his work for more than three months. It is also the mental space, the capsule of memories containing reminiscences of the places visited, the subtle and balanced Villa Lante, the delirious and suffocating gardens of Bomarzo, or the Campo Santo of Pisa with its abundant frescoes. It is also the carnal memory of the light giving relief and patina to things, charging everything with great emotional power and an almost unreal aspect.

With this exhibition, the artist continues his pictorial research around the image, mixing classical themes and motifs with research linked to the contemporary perception of reality, where technology plays an important role. Images found on the internet, interest in the great pictorial tradition and in iconography in general meet to create images crossed by an ambivalence between doubt and contemplation.