Bernard Frize — Hello, My Name is Bernard Frize — Emmanuel Perrotin Gallery — Exhibition — Slash Paris

Past: January 18 → March 1, 2014

As a new introduction to Bernard Frize, the exhibition reveals key facts about his work:

A. Bernard Frize’s paintings feature a spectrum of colors, selected not for their specific qualities but selected because they are distinct from one another; selected simply to be a color, not to evoke a mood or make a statement in and of themselves.

B. Bernard Frize follows systematic procedures in executing his paintings, based on a pre-determined script he chooses which can do nothing once put in motion but veer pointedly towards disruption.

C. Bernard Frize provides a stage for chance and the nature of the materials to make their way, to have their influence. Paint, resin, color, weight of the brush, imprint of the paint, the choice to allow a freeness to the touch.

In Diola, gesture is evident. There is a saturation of colour at the top and bottom of the canvas, at the edges of the brushstrokes. Throughout the main field of the painting, colour is also saturated at the edges of the brushstrokes, where the paint became ever so slightly heavier from the friction between the brush and the canvas. The material (paint) is doing what it does. Water, pigment, gravity, the effects of drying all have their influence and all play a part in what the painting becomes. It’s an organic process.

We, as organic beings, can likely relate to it more readily than to a piece wholly controlled, with no variations brought about by the nature of the materials.

A straight line is not followed by a straight line. A curved line is not followed by a line that matches the same curve. The pattern is intentionally askew […]