/
/
/
Jérôme Delépine's painting appear to emerge from a different space-time continuum,
submerging the viewer in cocooned atmospheres wich are populated with characters fashioned by light.
From figures to landscapes, the work
of the young painter Jérôme
Delépine is an explosion of smooth,
creamy material, placed on the
canvas with such freedom of movement
and originality that it evokes passionate
emotion. The half hues, very strong
chiaroscuro contrasts, pictorial technique
and themes all constitute elements that link
his paintings to works of art from another
era. But this genuine desire to delve into the
past is just a veiled portal that quickly
propels us into a modernity reflected by the
complete absence of detail and an unhampered
spontaneity in the approach to the
subject.
Driven by this desire to find inspiration
among the great masters, Jérôme Delépine
uses glazing, which consists in building up
very thin, almost transparent, layers of oil
paint, a technique used, for example, by the
Flemish and Dutch painters. This application
of superimposed layers creates an
exquisite depth and also captures the light.
The luminous effect becomes the most powerful
element of the painting, the protagonist,
so to speak, which emerges slowly and
lends life and a translucent presence to the
subjects. This light, a theatrical trick, inexorably
leads us back to the stage and the
game. In these spaces, stripped of all reference
to space and time, we meet Pierrot,
Harlequin, the singer and other characters
whose faces are distorted in caricature. The
landscapes too are tormented by the light
which appears to twist and turn in the air,
revealing trees and rocks between the play
of shadows. Like the human figures, they
are often created by the imagination or
memories, with occasional reference to tradition,
like crucifixions, one of the most
common topics in art. Here too the artist
enjoys toying with this association to the
past which he transforms into a contemporary
vision that becomes an interrogation.
The out of focus shapes have sometimes
been wrongly attributed to the fact that
Jérôme Delépine is partially sighted. His
problem with his eyesight does not stop
him in any way whatsoever from making
engravings and illustrations. However, the
strong contrasts between shadow and light
reflect the way he sees the world around
him. His fascination with light was already
present in the first drawings he made when
he was still an adolescent, not all that long
ago as he was born in 1977. Due to the maturity
and consistency of his art, his youth
regularly comes as a surprise. And this is
precisely where the energy of his work
resides: in his mastering of a technique that
allows the artist to let himself be guided by
movement rather than concepts, enabling
him to become the first person to view his
own paintings.
Nicole Kunz
Jérôme Delépine’s paintings can be viewed in
Annecy until 31 October (solo exhibition) and
are available thereafter from the gallery Audelà
des Apparences in Annecy (www.galerieaudeladesapparences.
com).
ART IN B&F
80 B&F B&F BANKING SOLUTIONS
Jérôme Delépine, La Roche Guyon, oil on canvas, 195 x 97 cm
Partager cette page
/fdata%2F3423587%2Favatar-blog-1128865585-tmpphp8Q7YCe.jpeg){kind=avatar}