Ceysson & Bénétière

 

It has been some time since we last saw Philippe Favier’s paintings in Paris, although the MEP and a couple of drawing fairs shed light on other aspects of his prolific work. At the retrospective exhibition curated by Thierry Raspail for the Museum of Valence, the less sedentary and the more observant among us may have discovered a two small boxes covered with red wax tears that unknowingly foreshadowed how significant drops would soon become for the artist. A hint that was recently confirmed to intrepid travelers at Galerie Wilde in Geneva and Ceysson & Bénétière in Saint-Étienne, where Favier reclaimed dripping in his work Swash Zone. 

Here we are rather confronted with manifestations of dropping – constellations of drops with their satellites of fresh blood (red giants) or dark charcoal (black holes), which, surprisingly, appeared in a series that seems in the confines of Favier’s past universes. As with Dubuffet’s soil paintings, it suddenly feels like these confines have moved to the center of the work – in this case, a perfect balance between painting, drawing, and engraving, something playful that resists abstraction, a tightrope walker’s art continually reinventing itself – will it remain balanced? So far, it does.

Listen carefully! The needle of a gramophone has circled the eyes of these milky swirls... Let yourself be carried away! These portholes open onto Astraea’s tears... Look! We are told the History of painting drop by drop…

“We were young too early in life”, Philippe Favier often says nowadays, seemingly touched by wisdom. He who knows how to turn a small stick into a brush and a shard of glass into a playground has certainly learned to make up for lost time.

David Quéré

 

Artist : Philippe Favier

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Visitor Information

Ceysson & Bénétière
23 rue du Renard
75004 Paris

Gallery hours:
Tuesday - Saturday
11am - 7pm
T: + 33 1 42 77 08 22