Howling Exhibition
Guillaume Sebag
27.04 – 24.05.2019
Opening: 26.04.2019
Mr Sebag applies his colours with his fingers while speaking aloud, which forces him to be alone as he paints. He debates on a limited area that is his canvas. His painting is like a jumble of thoughts before articulation. It interweaves impressions, intuitions, isolated words, and various often non-verbal sensations. It combines the multiple and absolutely inconceivable worlds in their entirety around us. For, what is the link between the dog lying at his feet, a family fleeing their country at war, and a skier? This is but one of the questions that Mr Sebag’s work broaches.
This suite of 9 works presented at Galerie aKonzept demonstrates coherence in the artist’s work and compositional complexity in his paintings, each a hair’s breadth away from failure. Mr Sebag’s work treads a fine balance, and risks pushing too much beyond their singular homogeneity. Ultimately, these are physical, sensual paintings. One feels them rather than simply views them. Mr Sebag paints without brushes. He applies paint with his fingers, mixing colours directly onto the canvas tightly stretched, pinned to the wall with staples, and prepared with Caparol. Sometimes, he uses charcoal to delineate a contour, deliver an isolated line, or manifest something figurative. Some of these charcoal pieces are glued to the canvas, which is then mounted on a frame. These moving and unstable works do not allow the eye to look anywhere precisely because they are made of several hearts that beat together, thus producing agitation in the spectator. Eyes wander across the canvas and quickly stop on a confusing fragment, only to return to discovery in a moment. The large format does not simplify the task, yet increases the pleasure of contemplation. This set of 9 paintings traces 14 years of creation. The oldest dates from 2002 and the latest from 2016.
Raphaël Lévy, March 2019
Guillaume Sebag (b. 1975, Paris) graduated from the National School of Beaux-Arts in Paris, France (painting section Vladimir Velickovic workshop, diploma thesis with Didier Semin). Since 1998 Sebag has exhibited internationally and his work is represented in numerous private collections. His solo exhibitions were held at Galerie Gauche, Beaux-Arts of Paris, France (2001), Galerie Deborah Zafman Paris, France (2005), Oui Galerie Brussels, Belgium (2013). Among other venues, his work has been shown at Galerie Progress Belgrade, Serbia and Galerie Deborah Zafman, Paris, France, as well as on art fairs in France and USA.