MONIQUE FRYDMAN: L'Autre Rive

As a major figure in abstract painting, Monique Frydman has often explored the concept of time in her work, particularly in relation to the process of painting and the creation of a canvas. When does a work begin? At the Edge, as something that is in the process of emerging, expanding, halfway between desire and mastery. The question of the time of painting and the time of the painting itself is always present in Monique Frydman's work. This question, which already preoccupied the artist in 1988, remains relevant in her practice.

Created between 2022 and 2023, this new body of work is titled "The Other Shore." The use of pastels, a hallmark of Frydman's art, is here much more diluted and lighter. The brush also plays a more prominent role as Frydman reworks the marks left by the blocks of pastels. As a result, these recent canvases seem imbued with a more watercolor-like quality. While in previous painting series such as "The Riverbanks" (2019), "The Edge" (2019), or "The Dawns" (2019), color asserted itself boldly, the works presented here carry a sense of liquidity. The canvas is sometimes left bare, allowing the texture of cotton or linen to be felt. These raw spaces, inherent to the physical nature of the artwork, merge with the lightness found in Frydman's use of pastels. The canvases of "The Other Shore" belong to an intermediate space, where a mysterious transparency is expressed.

Monique Frydman's works are deeply influenced by what she sees, perceives, and feels through the ever-changing interplay of light, colors, and vibrations of the surrounding landscape near her studio. This powerful source of inspiration, which has become self-evident to her and to which she is highly attuned, is transformed and revealed through the abstract language of her painting. Frydman's landscapes are constructed and deconstructed over time, becoming a reflection of her inner landscapes and bearing traces of her personal history and the history of painting itself.

ABOUT MONIQUE FRYDMAN:

Lives and works in Paris and Senantes, France.

The work of Monique Frydman has been showcased in numerous institutions, including: la Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art à Londres, Royaume-Uni ; le Musée Bonnard, Le Cannet, France ; le Musée du Louvre à Paris, France ; le 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art à Kanazawa, Japon ; la La Verrière - Fondation d’entreprise Hermès à Brussels, Belgique ; les Musée Matisse du Cateau-Cambrésis et de Nice, France ; le Centre d’Art Contemporain Bouvet-Ladubay à Saint-Hilaire-Saint-Florent, Saumur, France ; le Musée des Beaux-Arts de Tourcoing, France ; le Musée de Brou, Bourg-en-Bresse, France, Musée d’Art Moderne, Céret, France. 

Her works are included in several major collections, including those of the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art à Kanazawa, Japon ; du Musée national d’art moderne – Centre Pompidou à Paris ; du Tel Aviv Museum of Art en Israël ; du Musée des Beaux-Arts de Caen, France ; du Musée de la ville de Toulon, France ; du Musée de l’Abbaye de Sainte-Croix au Sables d’Olonne, France ; du Fonds National d’Art Contemporain de Paris ; du Frac des Pays de la Loire ; Frac Champagne-Ardenne ; du Frac Franche-Comté ; du Frac Île-de-France ; du Musée d’Art Moderne et de la Création Contemporaine de Toulouse, France ; du Musée d’Art Contemporain de Vitry-sur-Seine, France ; de l’Auditorium de Flaine, France

UPCOMING:

De la Peinture, une autre histoire de l’abstraction, 1962 – 1989.

Musée de Tessé, le Mans, 10 février - 9 juin 2024

Group exhibition

Monique Frydman, l’Age d’Or

Musée des Beaux-Arts, Caen, 6 avril - 1 septembre 2024

Solo exhibition