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BOUSSIGNAC Patrick
Having studied art in Paris since 1973, Boussignac's style is a synthesis of Hyperrealism and a fusion of modern art techniques. Much time is spent on each painting and it is truly admirable for an artist as young as Boussignac, who was born in 1956, to be as dedicated and accomplished. In the last two decades, he has had more than a dozen exhibitions worldwide. He had also been commissioned to illustrate for the French Press.
After years of research, he had tried almost everything to express his self and the search for his own style has paradoxically lead him to have no definitive style at all. This only aims to serve the idea that style can be a screen between his own work and the inevitable strange vision of the viewer.
Boussignac considers himself a post-modern artist, even though the art critics give another definition to his works. To be a post-modern artist, in his view, is to be out of line with the historical progression of art. For Boussignac’s work, he wishes to stimulate the human senses in all ways, i.e. to talk about tastes, sounds, and scents, in addition to the natural sense of seeing.
The philosophy of Boussignac’s work could be summed up in the following narrative: “.... One day the writer Jacques Lacarriere asked a Greek shepherd what his definition of poetry was and he answered, ‘It is when two words meet for the first time.’ ” The artist says, “I try to follow this admirable quote, I just put things rather than words, together”.
Boussignac explains, “ I made this definition my work’s keystone: to put beings in some contexts that are not theirs; in myths that do not belong to their civilisation, etc. This is the only purpose of my paintings-- to highlight in my subjects the poetry and beauty of their existence. The things in life that are seen thousands of times over, in spite of their beauty and singularity, gradually become dull, meaningless until finally becoming unnoticeable as the eyes have grown tired of their monotony.”
Boussignac continues metaphorically, “If we were to just move the lighting a few centimetres in another direction, or view things from a different angle, we would gain a fresh perspective which would lead us to begin again to know how to observe.”
Humour:
Boussignac likes to use humour to transform the ordinary things around us into poetical absurdity, and to capture the viewer’s attention by showing things from a different angle.
Style:
The artist refuses to affirm a strong style that he could claim his own. He wants to feel completely free to go wherever he wishes. Style, of course, is fascinating because it brings out the greatness in an artist; however in Boussignac’s case, it would appear quickly like a tale afterwhich he would almost immediately become bored. During the past few years, there is evidence of the idea that the things that have aroused him by their beauty did it with subtlety; and he feels that only a photograph or a very realistic painting can release and transfer these emotions.
Composition:
When there is human representation in his work i.e., apart from landscapes and animals, the subjects are painted in a frontal facing position at the centre of the canvas. This composition tends to further diminish the realism of the painted subject. He rarely portrays faces in profile, from the back, or three quarter portraits. The background is a very important part of the painting. By using mixed media- oil and clay--to create a rough-textured richness, his backgrounds lend a pictorial sobriety to the painting. The series of landscapes, which the artist started in 1997, is amongst the most classical.
Classicism:
To Boussignac, classicism is nice but he still likes to get a certain vision of the things that belong to his time e.g., the new techniques of science, astrophysics, etc.
Look:
A particular attention is focused on the subject’s look. Generally, the look is fixed and thus captures the viewers’ total attention. “I have the greatest emotions looking at the eyes of some portraits”, said Boussignac. In his opinion, it is in the look of the face--the expression, the eyes-- which we can clearly tell a painter’s thoughts, thoughts that are focused and concentrated onto just a few square centimetres of canvas.
Myths:
Woman must have been the object of the very first myth. This is, without doubt, why the artist makes the woman the absolute being in his mythological representations. Boussignac transposes many of his myths into civilisations that have no relation to the subject; and in this way, by painting them out of context, he forces us to see these images more clearly, as we have never seen them before.
Eroticism:
Eroticism maintains a place in Boussignac’s work since it is inherent in our perceptions and in our symbolical representations of the world. Any lack of attention can well be captured by eroticism, and it can serve as an alibi in re-directing the viewers’ attention.
Holiness:
Boussignac’s paintings are said to be “Holy”. Although the artist is a practising agnostic, he does not deny the fact that his paintings have a holy quality to them. In the religious themes, he likes to show that faith is too strongly related to icons that dismiss religion’s texts and principles, and that are themselves more holy than the blind devotion they create.
Animals:
They are more and more important in his work. The artist tries to give them a personality, and he aims at making the viewer aware and careful of animal’s environment and ecology.
Landscapes:
In Boussignac’s canvas, nature can be wild or tame with a subject that will give a poetic dimension to the canvas.
EXHIBITIONS:
1978 Salon d'Automne - Paris, France
Salon des Independants - Paris, France
Salon de Mai - Paris, France
1979-1980 Salon Osaka, Belgium and Monaco
1985-1989 Salon des Independants - Paris, France
Tokyo International Art Show - Japan
Dyan-Coquant Gallery - Paris, France
Dyan-Coquant Gallery - Kobe, Japan
Miami Art Fair - USA
1990-1992 Dyan-Coquant Gallery - Paris, France
Art Club - Paris, France
Chicago Art Fair - USA
1993-1994 Opera Gallery - Paris, France
Kunst Gallery - Norway
Richemond Gallery - Geneva, Switzerland
UNESCO - Paris, France
1995-1996 Opera Gallery - Paris, France
Opera Gallery - Singapore
1997 Opera Gallery - Paris, France
"Bali Mon Amour", Opera Gallery - Singapore
2000 Opera Gallery - Paris
Opera Gallery - Singapore
1998 "Ethnic Beauty" Opera Gallery - Singapore
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