Jean-Marc Felzenszwalbe, represented by the Xenithia-Nomade gallery, has exhibited in May 2019 a selection of his works for the first time in Milan. The chosen space for this event, a former industrial warehouse now turned into a creative and artistic space, goes along with the constructivist filiation of the artist.
In his essay published in Moscow in 1923 “For a theory of painting”, Nikolaï Tarabukin, member of the proletkult, analyses an artwork according to the following axes: colour, faktura, two dimensional representational shape and finally construction. The key ideas of constructivism still resonate to this day and challenge our relationship with art.
Thus, the tireless and methodical work on colour is the first fundamental component of Jean-Marc Felzenszwalbe’s pastels. The reduced number of colours which are used on each pastel leaves freedom for the spectator to immerse herself in meditation. The artist uses the versatility of dry pastel to create luminous and dynamic works, able to foster a dialog with their surroundings. The physical properties of the material used, pure pigment powder, imply a reflection of light in all directions, thus magnifying and changing its visual effect according to the hours of the day. The surface of the work becomes a tool to transform light. In this context, the plane surface features a texture and a volume, but as well a temporal dimension.
To the opposite of the art-product born from consumer society, the works of which once finished will encounter no other dynamics than museum promotion, those pastels could be perceived as belonging to performing arts: they express a theatricality saturated with dynamism and pulsation. The geometrical elements which can be found in certain works do not have necessarily any representative function per se, but participate to the construction of interactions in space and time.
Following the exhibition organised in Rome in 2018, the gallery has provided the opportunity in May 2019 to introduce the artistic practice of Jean-Marc Felzenszwalbe to the Milanese public. The exhibition has been essentially built around a series of 8 large pastels, representative of his work.
Extract of the press release issued for Jean-Marc Felzenszwalbe’s solo show held in Milan in May 2019.
