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The sea provides him with inspiration and material.
Colourfully shimmering sculptures fashioned from driftwood and other flotsam and jetsam plucked from the Mediterranean shores have over the years become the distinguishing feature of Patrick Chappert-Gaujal’s art. But he is just as well known for his melancholy, meandering works and his dynamic imagery. Many of his paintings resemble townscapes viewed from a helicopter. His love of the sea and his fascination for wooden objets trouvés washed ashore often find expression in his works. Torn cardboard boxes and scraps of paper glued together are transformed into valuable materials in his paintings and pictorial collages.
Everything he does is full of contrasts. In an ever-changing interplay between conventional structures and the resistance they meet from the spontaneous impulses of colour and form, he is forever creating patterns at the same time as he undermines their integrity.
In an article about the artist published in connection with his first exhibition in Sweden at the Institut Français in Malmö in 1986 Martine Prouillac, Cultural Counsellor at the Institut Français, writes, “His work is a source of enjoyment because of its simplicity and the modesty of its ambitions. The observer will soon learn to like what Chappert-Gaujal is doing.”

Patrick Chappert-Gaujal was born in 1959 in Bédarieux, France, and studied at the Academy of Art in Perpignan from 1975 to 1980. He now lives in La Franqui in the south of France. There, on the shores of the Mediterranean, he finds his motifs in the alternately soft and harsh landscapes of this region. Chappert-Gaujal first discovered Sweden when he moved to Malmö in the mid 1980s. During the years he spent here he shared a studio with several other young artists in the empty leather factory in Malmö, which at the time was the focal point for a lively artists’ collective.
Encouraged by Siwert Bergström, he exhibited at GKM in Malmö for the first time in 1988. It marked the beginning of a long colla-boration, which has resulted in several other exhibitions under the aegis of the gallery. Patrick Chappert-Gaujal has also taken part in many exhibitions in France, other European countries and the USA.

Johan Persson 20 februari 2003
 



Jan Desmarets captures a moment frozen in time, mastering in his sculptures the art of simultaneously creating both movement and a static “snapshot” of life. Desmarets was born in the Belgian town of Ieper in 1961. Since his debut exhibition in 1985, after completing his artistic training at the Ghent Academy of Art, he has displayed his talents at several galleries and official expositions around the world. Although influenced by the classical tradition in sculpture, he nevertheless imbues his creations with their own proportions and personal characteristics, and his familiarity with the techniques of casting gives him freedom when transforming an idea into a finished work of art. He is represented in various European contexts by numerous public works of art, among them several monumental works.
He has, for example, created a number of bronze figures in a frenzy of forward momentum, and captured men and women in mid-leap. Gradually he has deepened his perspectives, and repeatedly he returns to variations of highly diverse animal motifs, having depicted a large number of horses, dogs and storks over the years. According to many interpreters the stork symbolises happiness and joy, and biblical exegetists often present the bird in a positive light, as its habit of feeding on snakes is seen as an eradication of destructive instincts. The horse symbolises courage, victory and strength.

Jan Desmarets’ artistic landscape is populated by mythological figures, among them the Roman god Janus with his mysteriously duplicated face, and the mythical figure of Icarus, cast into the sea when his artificial wings were singed by the sun.
It is here, between humanity and mythology, classical and modern, that Jan Desmarets finds the lifeblood for his work.

Johan Persson 20 februari 2003
 

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