Exhibition of abstract paintings
Artistic approach:
"Since my serious beginnings with acrylics in 2012, I have tried to translate my sensitivity to the earth, to nature, to the elements; I have also transcribed my sensitivity to mystery, to the invisible, to the divine. My work has oscillated between abstraction and semi-abstraction, apart from a brief figurative period in oils in 2019-2020.
However, the discovery of pigments and tempera in 2020 (egg paint) has given my work a different direction.
On the one hand, I discovered that I could create my own pigments, provided I used the right stones; this opened up a whole new range of possibilities, allowing me a unique range of tones and mixtures, with very particular light, depth and transparency. I also realised that I could complete my creative process by building my own wooden frames, thus personifying the medium in terms of its nature and dimensions. Finally, I also cut my own sheets for my work on paper.
The further I go, the more I notice that my work is tending towards abstraction rather than semi-figuration. I'm becoming more and more detached from the landscape form. I think this is linked to what I feel I want to convey above all with my painting: a sensory, immersive experience; I'm very interested in the vibratory, 'frequency' qualities that a work can give off. The representation is not so important to me as the density, the light, the energy that the work can contain. I play with a number of elements during the creative process: combinations of colours and shades, contrasts, transparency, movement, density, fullness and emptiness.
I'd like the work to vibrate enough for the recipient to want to slow down, to stop, to enter into a kind of intimate, personal dialogue with it; to arouse an inner movement. That it activates the senses, sensations and feelings, that it ultimately generates an emotion. The work should be experienced as a tangible inner experience, not just a banal visual one.
Since 2020 and for the time being, I have chosen not to give titles to my paintings, following the example of a number of great painters. Just a date of completion/finishing of the work. By their very nature, and because of the experience and personal bond experienced by each recipient, I don't think it's justified to limit or freeze the works in a title.
Fabien Ballif, February 2023
