CHRISTINE COMYN
CHRISTINE COMYN
Abs olute Ar t Gallery
During the first twenty years of her career, Christine Comyn (Belgium, 1957) was known for her large acrylic paintings and watercolours. Her favorite subjects were portraits of young women, often with suppressed emotions. In 2007 she started to combine her passion for contemporary female portraits with her interest of the 18th century art and history, more specifically the character of Marie Antoinette, last queen of France. This spiritual research brought her to the awareness that humanity is evolving, but it’s evolution progresses in cyclic waves. The present is definitely often a mirror of the past and the resemblance with the 21st century at the end of the Ancient Regime, when aristocrats behaved as if their wealth and pleasures had no boundaries, is particularly striking. Christine Comyn’s idea for her most recent art project “la Douceur de l’Ignorance” rose exactly from the intention to connect the links between the era of Marie Antoinette and the revealed evidence of our contemporary world, especially regarding women. After reading several biographies and personal letters of Marie Antoinette, Christine Comyn concluded that the fundamental emotions and longings of Marie Antoinette are no different from those of modern women, except that hers were extremely intense. Her longing for impossible happiness, her excesses, her weaknesses and hardship associate her with the lives of ordinary mortals. All these different aspects of Marie Antoniette’s multifaceted personality emerged in the body of works “La Douceur de l’Ignorance”, a heterogeneous series of female portraits, each of which reflect a particular emotion or experience in the life story of the last queen of France. The depicted women, however, are no 18th century high class ladies but contemporary mothers, wives, glamour girls, prisoners, loving and even women addicted to gambling. In such a way, Christine Comyn gave shape to the many different women living in Marie Antoniette and to the Marie Antoniette living in every woman from the past as well as the present. Christine Comyn is artist in residence in Absolute Art Gallery, Knokke & Brugge and had frequent individual exhibitions such as “Amazing Graces” (1999), “True Colours” (2002), “Horae” (2006) and “The Twilight Zone” (2009). Her work has been shown on art fairs in Belgium and abroad, such as Lineart International Artfair, Ghent; New York Art Expo; Miami Art Fair; … and in cooperation with Breguet, in Denmark, National Museum of Copenhagen (2006); in Finland in the Rittarihuone, Helsinki (2006); and in Sweden, in the Rittarhuset, Stokholm (2007).
BRIGHT EYES
“June” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 100x80 cm
“Drew” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 100x120 cm
“Katlin” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 100x120 cm
“Mica” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 160x130 cm
“Ruby” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 150x120 cm
“Xan” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 120x150 cm
“Hope” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 120x150 cm
“Birger” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 130x100 cm
“Pipa” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 120x100 cm
“Lio” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 100x80 cm
“Megan� acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 100x120 cm
“Lotta” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 130x100 cm
CHARACTERS
“Puzzle” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 150 x 150 cm
“Cloud” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 150x120 cm
“Blossom” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 100x120 cm
“Ice Queen” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 150 x 150 cm
“Ocher” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 150 x 150 cm
“Innocence� acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 120x100 cm
Reveil� acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 120x100 cm
“Ping” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 120 x 100 cm
“Beauty” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 120 x 150 cm
THE ULTIMATE CREATURE
“Titel” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 150 x 120 cm
“Eagle Eye” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 100x120 cm
“Wonderboy” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 100x120 cm
“Titel” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 150 x 150 cm
“Duke” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 150 x 150 cm
“Cameleon” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 150 x 150 cm
“Lover” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 150 x 150 cm
“Lolita” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 150 x 120 cm
“Taylor” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 120 x 100 cm
DIGITAL COLLAGES
“Bal Masqué I” mixed media in plexiglass - edition of 6 150x120 cm
“Bal Masqué II” mixed media in plexiglass - edition of 6 150x120 cm
“Bal Masqué III” mixed media in plexiglass - edition of 6 150x120 cm
“Bal Masqué IV” mixed media in plexiglass - edition of 6 150x120 cm
“Bal Masqué VI” mixed media in plexiglass - edition of 6 150x120 cm
“Adieu le plus aimé” mixed media in plexiglass - edition of 6 150x120 cm
DRIPPINGS
“Unraveled” mixed media on paper and plexiglass 150x120 cm
“The King” mixed media on paper and plexiglass 180x120 cm
“The Queen” mixed media on paper and plexiglass 180x120 cm
“Hermes” mixed media on paper and plexiglass 150x120 cm
“Nijinski” mixed media on paper and plexiglass 150x120 cm
BODY LANGUAGE
“Whirlwind” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 190 x 130 cm
“Silence” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 185 x120 cm
“Germ” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 185 x120 cm
“Caper” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 185 x120 cm
“Butterfly” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 185 x120 cm
“Yoyo” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 185 x120 cm
“Whirly Gig” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 185 x120 cm
“Red Thread” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 185 x120 cm
“Dinky Toy” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 185 x120 cm
“Mirror I� acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 185 x120 cm
“Mirror II” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 185 x120 cm
SONGE AU CLAIRE DE L’EAU
“Basic” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 130x160 cm
“Source” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 120 x150 cm
“Sparkling� acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 130 x160 cm
“Overwhelming” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 120 x180 cm
“Organic” acrylics, watercolours, pencil and charcoal on canvas 120 x180 cm
CHRISTINE COMYN Born in Tielt, Belgium, 1957 EDUCATION: Sint-Lucas Academy, Ghent, BE PROFESSIONAL CAREER Illustrator at editor Lannoo from 1978 to 1981 Teacher at the Academy for Modern Art of Tielt from 1981 to 1997 Professional artist since 1987
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS 2016 Bright Eyes, Leonhard’s Gallery, Antwerp, BE 2015 Art Up, Lille, FR Songe au clair de l’eau, Absolute Art Gallery,Knokke, BE 2014 PAN Amsterdam, NL MPV Gallery, Den Bosch, NL Art Up, Lille, FR 2013 Body Language, Absolute Art Gallery, Brugge, BE Lille Art Fair, Lille, Grand Palais, FR MPV Gallery, Den Bosch, NL Eurantica, Brussels, BE 1989-2012 Lineart International Art Fair, Flanders Expo, Ghent, BE 2011 The Myth of The Ultimate Creature”, Galerie MPV, Eindhoven, NL “The Myth of The Ultimate Creature”, Absolute Art Gallery, Knokke, BE Art Paris, International Art Fair, Grand Palais, Paris, FR 2010 Consulate of France in Antwerp, BE Rittarihuone (in collaboration with Breguet), Helsinki, FI Leonhard’s Gallery, Antwerp, BE “La Douceur de l’Ignorance” Absolute Art Gallery, Knokke & Brugge, BE Trianon Palace Hotel, Versailles, FR 2009 “The Twilight Zone”, Absolute Art Gallery, Knokke & Brugge, BE Galerie MPV, ’s Hertogenbosch, NL 2007 Rittarhuset (in cooperation with Breguet), Stokholm, SE Leonhard’s Gallery, Antwerp, BE
2006 “Horae”, Absolute Art Gallery, Knokke & Brugge, BE Rittarihuone (in collaboration with Breguet), Helsinki, FI Galerie Elysées, Paris, FR National Museum of Copenhagen (in cooperation with Breguet), Copenhagen, DK 2004 New York Art Expo, New York, USA Ambiente & Tendence, Franfurter Messe, Frankfurt, DE 2003 “Retrospective exhibition”, Museum Van Lien, Fijnaart, NL 2002 Ambiente & Tendence, Franfurter Messe, Frankfurt, DE “True Colours”, Absolute Art Gallery, Knokke & Brugge, BE 2001 Kunstrai, Amsterdam, NL 2000 Manoir de l’ Engagiste, Orbec, FR 1999 “Amazing Graces”, Absolute Art Gallery, Knokke & Brugge, BE Holland Art Fair, Den Haag, NL Kenneth Raymond Gallery, Boca Raton, Florida, USA 1998 Palm Desert Art Gallery, Palm Desert, California, USA Le Prix International d’ Art Contemporain de Monte Carlo, Monaco, MO 1997 Retrospective exhibition with first monograph in the Casino of Ostend, BE 1993 Miami Art Fair, Florida, USA Art Gallery Villa d’ Arte, Barranquilla, CO 1992 Europ Art, Genève, CH 1988 Thermae Palace, Ostend, BE
PUBLICATIONS Christine Comyn, Ars Libris, 1997 Christine Comyn, Art In Belgium, 2000 True Colours, Museum Van Lien, 2003 Christine Comyn, Art In Belgium, 2006 Christine Comyn, La Douceur de L’ignorace, 2010 FILMS Horae, 2007 La Douceur de l’Ignorance, 2010
Kustlaan 285 B-8300 KNOKKE tel: +32 (0)50 62 22 40 Zeeijk 806 B-8300 KNOKKE tel: +32 (0)50 60 22 28 Dijver 4-5 B-8000 BRUGGE tel: +32 (0)50 49 10 12
www.absoluteartgallery.com
Kustlaan 285 B-8300 KNOKKE tel: +32 (0)50 62 22 40 Zeeijk 806 B-8300 KNOKKE tel: +32 (0)50 60 22 28 Dijver 4-5 B-8000 BRUGGE tel: +32 (0)50 49 10 12
www.absoluteartgallery.com