04 : ABOUT THE EXHIBITIONThe Lee-Bauwens Gallery is delighted to welcome Ode Bertrand for her second solo exhibition, from 28 April to 25 May 2019. Very rarely, the artist talks about her painting. La Discrète, the title of the exhibition, alludes to the artist's monastic personality, as in another life she would have liked: “To be a monk, wearing sandals, in an abbey, in charge of the illuminations”
(1)
“Today, the artist continues to work happily in the shadows, with no other need than to constantly question and find answers in action. Doing, getting lost in the meticulous and absorbing execution of works painted on paper and canvas by an impeccable hand, unfettered by any impulsive temptation. To better explore the rhythms, movements and digressions of the line. To create developments from one painting to another, from one series to another.
This complexity at the heart of the greatest simplicity nourishes the soul and in exchange, asks for time in contemplation.”
Marie-Fabienne Aymon
Fondation Louis Moret
Ode Bertrand, born in Paris in 1930, lives & works in Paris. She has been a painter for nearly 40 years, after having been a dancer. From her early days, Ode Bertrand chose geometrical abstraction, without going through a figurative phase, or trying other styles. Her aunt was Aurélie Nemours, who encouraged, advised and showed the artist by example, and she was also her aunt's assistant for 35 years until her death in 2005.
The position of Ode Bertrand is singular, a little student, a little disciple, adept of the same rigor both in the purification of the form that in the accuracy of the bill, but quickly possessing its own language, composed of a limited number of elements that play with strong contrasts, and her own expression, both full of restraint and emphasis on rhythm. The abstraction of Ode Bertrand is distinguished by its radicality, without it however resorting to systems and justifications like the painters of the concrete art.
« In apparent simplicity, the complexity of Ode Bertrand's work is based on subtle relationships and scholarly equilibrium. In favor of rhythm. To express an order where chaos remains. »
Serge Lemoine
President of Musée d’Orsay, 2001-2008
_Learn more about Ode Bertrand in the
artist's CV
(1) Ode Bertrand - Trait et Lumière - Introduction by Serge Lemoine, interview with Anne Tronche
Text by Evelyne de Montaudoüin, Somogy editions 2007
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