PAUL DE FLERS: POISSON-SCORPION

Almine Rech New York, Upper East Side is pleased to present, Poisson - Scorpion, Paul de Flers' fourth solo exhibition with the gallery.

September 12 – October 26, 2024

“Isolation is not a place, but a condition.” This reflective line from Nicolas Bouvier's novel Le Poisson-Scorpion serves as a central theme in this new body of work from Paul de Flers.

Bouvier’s narrative of exile and introspection on the remote Rodrigues Island finds a visual counterpart in de Flers’ paintings, which are set in the tropical paradise of Pico, at the edge of the Azores archipelago. However, this paradise, much like the island in Bouvier’s novel, is both a physical and psychological space where characters confront their inner selves.

The artist creates intimate scenes of alienation in remote and unknown settings, where there is no reference to time or the identities. His characters await the unrevealed, gazing in unspecified directions. What has captured their attention? The tension within these scenes is so profound that it extends beyond the canvas, drawing viewers into an inward-looking dialogue with de Flers' blurry figures. De Flers makes the contours and perspectives disappear, extending our gaze to feel the dissolving of colors and find the hidden shapes within the oil.

Paintings of blurred figures evoke winter landscapes reminiscent of Claude Monet or Giuseppe De Nittis, who, similar to de Flers, dedicated much attention to painting volcanic landscapes, as shadows are laid with the help of soft, almost lilac tones.

Unlike de Flers' motionless, introspective figures, the elements of nature burst with dynamism and vigor. This contrast suggests a return of agency to nature, as humans stand at its mercy, dissociated and confused.