Mirror-paintings
Gery Lamarre builts his abstract expressionist paintings in levels, as he incorporates his pigments directly into the varnish used in his paintings.
The effect is twofold : the pigment/varnish mix creates a gloss within the color itself, and the multilayered works conjure reflective surfaces within the painting and between the layers of paint.
Deeply influenced by Asian, African, and Middle Eastern cultures, Gery’s finished pieces have a lacquered effect similar to certain Japanese pottery. The application of pigments into the varnish also has a chemical effect and creates subtle changes in the color as well as in the texture of the varnish.
This dedication to his materials is the foundation of Gery’s work, and characteristic of his commitment to the exploration of light and color on his canvases. In Gery’s paintings, different paint textures and colors dramatically collide, burst and transform each other like forces of nature ; thinner paint flows over base paints, and dominant colors create shapes that twist and writhe on the canvas like weather patterns. These are works as much about textures as about mood.
The tug between that Gery calls his works’ mirroring effects and the opacity of paint also expresses the necessary, fundamental tension in Gery’s paintings ; he is working within a gestural, painterly tradition as well as experimenting with various levels of sheen.
The dialectic between aesthetic styles as well as cultural traditions is vital to Gery’s paintings, and while his work is contemporary in its expressionistic qualities, its multilayered execution, and its multicultural influences, the irreducible strength of these paintings lies in Gery’s instinct for the balance of color and mood, in this skilled mapping out the canva’s space, sculpting shapes out of colors, and his sensitivity to the necessary dialogue between the materials of his craft and his inspiration.
These works are about emotional and aethetic flow, as Gery’s vision is one commited to the challenge of working within traditions as well as expanding them.
Joyce Asper
Agora Gallery, Chelsea, New York
Gery Lamarre
55 rue André Delepierre
59700 Marcq en Baroeul (France)
www.gerylamarre.com
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