Nicolas Chardon
Die geometrische Intuition
19.08. – 07.10.2018

THE GEOMETRIC INTUITION

The Kunstverein Bremerhaven is pleased to present a comprehensive solo exhibition of new works by the Paris-based artist Nicolas Chardon (*1974) in Bremerhaven.

Represented in group exhibitions - at the Ludwig Forum, Aachen or the Marta, Herford - his works are always curatorial efforts to reappraise the historical avant-garde. Chardon’s large-format paintings inevitably bring to mind works of Geometric Abstraction or Concrete Art. This comparison is interrupted genealogically by the search inherent in them, the intuition for a different arrangement that calls geometry into question.

The field of geometric-abstract painting is, par excellence, that of the perfection of forms: Straightness of lines, precision of angles - but what happens when the canvas no longer allows for these clear figures? The originality of Nicolas Chardon’s work lies in the use of a gridded canvas. Only after the grid has been applied is the canvas stretched onto the stretcher frame. The tension of the staples creates distortions in the grid. Nicolas Chardon inserts figures into this new, winding structure, which lose their geometric form with the grid - they become prisoners of the structure. The irregular forms are as logical as they are comprehensible and yet they defy geometry.

The canvas is no longer a free, open surface that invites the artist to bring his imagination into it. It becomes an organizing tool.

How does one qualify these squares, which are actually quadrilaterals? How does one understand the space that the canvas brings to light? What hidden meanings are still contained in the word “abstraction”? The exhibition at the Kunsthalle makes it possible to experience the uninterrupted movement between concept, statement and the material fact of painting.

Selection of exhibitions:

2018 Le Modèle, Galerie Jean Brolly, Paris (solo); Water Yump, Museum Tinguely, Basel (group)

2017 Revolution in Rotgelbblau, Marta Herford (group); The multiple versus series versus a unique work, Galerie van Gelder, Amsterdam (group)

2016 We always turn our backs to the setting sun, Chiso Gallery, Kyoto (group); Dystotal, Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen (group); TABLEAU / MEUBLE, with Karina Bisch, Galerie Bouvier Le Ny, Paris; Nouveaux standards, Galerie Jean Brolly, Paris (solo)

The exhibition is accompanied by an edition by the artist.

With the kind support of the Bureau des arts plastiques of the Institut français and the French Ministry of Culture.