Un temps hors du temps
Galerie Convergences - Valérie GRAIS
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One has the feeling of recognising these paintings, though once the search for resemblance begins; the references we already know prove insufficient. It comes to me in two-dimensional imagery: a resemblance to the ‘Signes’ paintings produced by Tal Coat in the 1950s. If I say, ‘in two-dimensional imagery’, it is because we have come to perceive works only through their reproductions — deceiving us completely of their real, physical state. In reality, Coat’s paintings are thick with paint, yet Diers himself is no ‘matterist’. There is no impasto. There is lightness. The canvas is neither overloaded, nor stiff, nor cemented —yet it is resolved and strong.
This calls into question: when does Diers consider a work finished? Perhaps when a composition reaches harmony, but this differs with each one. Harmony is born once the last marks and those buried beneath cease to impose themselves: when a just balance is established between the upper and the primary surface, between the top layer and all that exists in its latent state. I am reminded of two paintings by de Kooning: Attic (1949) and Excavation (1950). Here again, the resemblance is deceiving. Upon viewing these works in the flesh rather than over the internet, we realise how terribly compact these paintings are, as much as in regard to their frames as in their depth: tightly framed, jam-packed. There is nothing of the sort in Diers’s work: they float without drifting away. Fixed but not sealed. A backdrop of markings with a surface that floats above without oppressing or enclosing it.
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Yves Michaud on Thierry Diers, 12th October 2020
from February 4 to 26, 2021
* For more information and details on the works and opening hours, do not hesitate to contact the gallery.
22, rue des Coutures Saint Gervais - 75003 Paris
tel. +(33) 06 24 54 03 09 - graisvalerie@yahoo.fr - www.galerieconvergences.com-
