Edda Renouf - Visible Sounds

Edda Renouf

Edda Renouf

Annely Juda Fine Art 2017

Annely Juda Fine Art

Edda Renouf Visible Sounds

6 April - 20 May 2017

Annely Juda Fine Art 23 Dering Street London W1S 1AW ajfa@annelyjudafineart.co.uk www.annelyjudafineart.co.uk Tel 020 7629 7578 Fax 020 7491 2139 Monday - Friday 10 - 6 Saturday 11 - 5

Visible Sounds “…important and recurrent themes in my art are those of time and music or sound. My art works are a record of the days, weeks, months and seasons when they were created, and thus act as a journal of my working process; and the theme of sound, points to the idea of a hidden presence of wave structures in our universe.”*

In contrast to my 2013 exhibition with Annely Juda Fine Art, in which all the works were in a square or conventionally rectangular format, some of the paintings and drawings in this new presentation are in an unusually long and narrow vertical format. Also, it is the first time that the main core of the exhibition is made up of works that are of several panels: a quadriptych, two triptychs and a diptych.

Before writing further about this core group of works for “Visible Sounds”, it is important to mention that it was actually the large, blue-black square painting ‘Threshold – December Sounds’, which was the basis for my rediscovering and working on the long vertical paintings. One aspect of my painting technique is the application of the acrylic paint in glazes, often in many layers. For example, a painting that I conceive as becoming a white or light grey work as in the case of most of the paintings in this present exhibition, will start out with a dark blue-black as a ground colour. After sanding the dark ground and applying several glazes of white, the resulting surface is of a more lively, luminous white or blue-grey.

The painting ‘Threshold – December Sounds’, however, remained the dark blue-black tone, revealing itself as finished in this first stage. A clear continuation in format size and approach of the works I exhibited with Annely Juda in 2013 logically should have kept me working further in this direction. Paradoxically, however, the perfection of this particular painting was telling me to look beyond it, pointing towards a new horizon. This realisation lead me to the title, where ‘Threshold’ became a metaphor for a new entrance while ‘December’ represents the month in the year that lies between the past and the future: there is the known past that

can be reconsidered through memory; and there is the unknown future with its open horizon before one. It was with this spirit of re-discovery in December 2014, that I then began to re-work the long vertical paintings, changing the single panel compositions into the multipanelled quadriptych, triptychs and diptych. An important inspiration, too, was the group of vertical drawings made in 2010 and 2011. The direct presence of this unusual shape for a drawing or painting was speaking strongly to me.

Thus breaking away from the more stable and static presence of the square, I found that these vertical paintings could be related to, as with sculpture, through one’s body when standing before the art work. My eyes were then lead to read up and down the painting giving me a sense of movement. As I identify sound with movement the idea then came to me of titling several of the works made up of two or more panels ‘Air Sounds’, ‘Sounds Rising’, ‘Dawn Sounds’. For the vertical drawings the titles combine the natural elements with sound, ‘Water Sounds’ or ‘Earth Sounds’.

Notable, too, in this exhibition is the reapplication of removed threads in almost all of the paintings. The weave of the unprepared linen canvas is of course based on the straight vertical and horizontal grid, but when removing a thread, it is naturally curved. Discovering this several years ago, I began introducing the curve into some of my works by reapplying and gluing the threads before preparing and priming the raw linen canvas.

The reapplied threads are often wave-like, but when more subtly curved can become large leaf-like shapes thus revealing the origin of the linen with its relationship to the flax plant, while also pointing to the hidden wave structures in our universe. They are expressive of movement and give the linen canvas a freer organic character which is in contrast to the geometry of the given woven grid. Examples of this can be seen in the diptych ‘Flight’ or in the quadriptych ‘Air Sounds’: the removed threads are superimposed in curves over the long or short lines where the threads have been removed. A delicate bas-relief then brings out contrasts of light and shadow increasing the painting’s affinity to sculpture.

The areas between the removed and reapplied threads created here are reminiscent of signs or archetypal symbols. In each case they are painted (for example, white in ‘Flight’ and blue in ‘Air Sounds’) enhancing their rhythmic vivid quality. Wave-like and spiraling motifs created by progressions of removed threads on a larger scale also appear in all the panels like ‘Air Sounds’ and ‘Dawn Sounds’. And other examples of the unexpected symbolic character of a motif are in the smaller square paintings ‘Sign - 8, Autumn Energy’ and ‘Sign - 7, Summer Energy, (version #2)’. In the first there is a centered grid made by undulating reapplied threads. A diagonal progression of irregular edged shapes created by the grid and painted in a blue grey brings forth a tension between the geometric and organic character of the linen, between the expected and unexpected.

The concept of the expected and unexpected or known and unknown is basic to my working process and in keeping with the inconsistencies of when the works were created and finished. That is, there is rarely any clear logic in the selection of works for an exhibition and it is not surprising that the dates of the paintings and drawings within this group titled “Visible Sounds” span between 1981 and 2016. It is a reflection of the spiral moving energy of existence where there is no beginning and no end.

Edda Renouf, February 2017 * Taken from Artist Statement in exhibition catalogue “Edda Renouf”, Annely Juda Fine Art, London, April 4 – May 3, 2013

1

Air Sounds (quadriptych) 1981-2016 acrylic on linen; removed and reapplied threads, 4 parts 230.5 x 166.5 cm overall

2

Water Sounds I 2010 pastel chalk, ink and incised lines on Arches paper 142 x 40 cm

3

Air Sounds I 2010 incised lines, black ink and graphite on Arches paper 142 x 40 cm

4

Sounds Rising (triptych) 2010-2016 acrylic on linen; removed and reapplied threads, 3 parts 229 x 124.5 cm overall

5

Threshold - December Sounds 2014 acrylic on linen; removed and reapplied threads 150 x 150 cm

6

Sign - 7, Summer Energy, Version #2 2007-2016 acrylic on linen; removed and reapplied threads 51 x 51 cm

7

Sign - 8, Autumn Energy 2007-2016 acrylic on linen; removed and reapplied threads 51 x 51 cm

8

Aperture - July Sounds 2014-2017 acrylic on linen; removed and reapplied threads 150 x 150 cm

9

Sign - 1, Winter Flight 2009 acrylic on linen; removed and reapplied threads 51 x 51 cm

10

Entrance with incised Lines; Autumn Series I 2013 incised lines, graphite and ink on Arches paper 38 x 38 cm

11

Incised Lines Rising; Autumn Series I 2013 incised lines, graphite and ink on Arches paper 38 x 38 cm

12

Dawn Sounds (triptych) 1995-2016 acrylic on linen; removed and reapplied threads, 3 parts 229 x 124.5 cm each

13

Earth Sounds 2010 pastel chalk and incised lines on Arches paper 142 x 40 cm

14

Air Sounds III 2011 incised lines and black ink on Arches paper 142 x 40 cm

15

Air Sounds II 2010 incised lines and black ink on Arches paper 142 x 40 cm

16

Water Sounds II 2011 incised lines and pastel chalk on Arches paper 142 x 40 cm

17

Flight (diptych) 1982-2016 acrylic on linen; removed and reapplied threads, 2 parts 229 x 82.5 overall

18

Light Fields 6 2016 incised lines, ink and oil pastel on Arches paper 38 x 38 cm

19

Light Fields 2 2016 incised lines, ink and oil pastel on Arches paper 38 x 38 cm

20

Light Fields 8 2016 incised lines, ink and oil pastel on Arches paper 38 x 38 cm

21

Light Fields 3 2016 incised lines, ink and oil pastel on Arches paper 38 x 38 cm

22

Light Fields 4 2016 incised lines, ink and oil pastel on Arches paper 38 x 38 cm

BIOGRAPHY American, born in Mexico 1943 lives and works in Paris 1963-64 1967-68 1968-71 1969-70 1971-72

Académie Julian, Paris Art Students League, New York M.F.A. School of Art, Columbia University, New York Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Munich Painting Fellowship, Columbia University, Paris

Solo Exhibitions 2017 2016 2015 2013 2012 2010 2007 2006 2004

2002 2001 1998

1997 1996 1995

1994

Annely Juda Fine Art, London Barbara Mathes Gallery, New York Galerie 1900-2000, Paris Annely Juda Fine Art, London Senior & Shopmaker Gallery, New York Lille Métropole Musée d’art moderne, d’art contemporain et d’art brut, Villeneuve d’Ascq Galerie 1900 - 2000, Paris Galeria Charpa, Valencia Galerie Sollertis, Toulouse Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre, Paris New Arts Gallery, Litchfield National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington Brenau University Galleries, Gainesville Joseph Helman Gallery, New York Galerie Liesbeth Lips, Rotterdam Galerie Liesbeth Lips, Rotterdam Galerie Sollertis, Toulouse Galerie Hubert Winter, Vienna Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe Numark Gallery, Washington Galerie Sollertis, Toulouse Elisabeth Kaufmann, Basel Artothèque Médiathèque, Valence The University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor Galerij S 65, Aalst Galerie Sollertis, Toulouse Elisabeth Kaufmann, Basel

1993 1991 1990 1989 1987 1986 1985 1984 1983 1982 1981 1980

1979

1978

1977

1976

1975

1974

1973 1972

Cairn Gallery, Nailsworth Yvon Lambert, Paris Galerij S65, Aalst Cairn Gallery, Nailsworth Blum Helman Gallery, New York Greene Gallery, Coral Gables Galerie Liesbeth Lips, Amsterdam Blum Helman Gallery, New York Martina Hamilton Gallery, New York Blum Helman Gallery, New York Yvon Lambert, Paris Francoise Lambert, Milan Carol Taylor Gallery, Dallas Blum Helman Gallery, New York Graeme Murray Gallery, Edinburgh Greenberg Gallery, St. Louis Yvon Lambert, Paris Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles Thomas Segal Gallery, Boston Françoise Lambert, Milan Konrad Fischer, Düsseldorf Daniel Weinberg Gallery, San Francisco Blum Helman Gallery, New York Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford Blum Helman Gallery, New York Ugo Ferranti, Rome Yvon Lambert, Paris Graeme Murray, Edinburgh Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles Young Hoffman Gallery, Chicago Daniel Weinberg Gallery, San Francisco Kathryn Markel Gallery, New York MTL Gallery, Brussels Rolf Preisig, Basel D’Alessandro Ferranti, Rome Julian Pretto, New York Françoise Lambert, Milan Françoise Lambert, Milan Marilena Bonomo, Bari Yvon Lambert, Paris Yvon Lambert, Paris Konrad Fischer, Düsseldorf MTL Gallery, Brussels Françoise Lambert, Milan Yvon Lambert, Paris

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS Akron Art Museum, Akron, USA Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, USA Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA Australian National Gallery, Canberra, Australia Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, France Boise Art Museum, Boise, USA British Museum, London, United Kingdom Brooklyn Museum of American Art, Brooklyn, USA Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, USA Centre Georges Pompidou, Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris, France Centre de la Gravure et de l’Image imprimée, La Louvière, Belgium Cincinnati Museum of Art, Cincinnati, USA Collection Lambert, Avignon, France Corcoran Gallery, Washington, USA Dallas Museum of Fine Art, Dallas, USA Detroit Museum of Art, Detroit, USA FRAC Pays de la Loire, Carquefou, France Groupe Lhoist, Limelette, Belgium Harvard Universty Art Museums, Cambridge, USA Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, USA Honolulu Academy of Arts, Honolulu, USA High Museum, Atlanta, USA Huntington Museum of Art, Huntington, USA Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, USA Kemper Art Museum, Washington University, Saint Louis, USA Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Switzerland Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland LaM Lille Métropole, musée d’art moderne, d’art contemporain et d’art brut, Villeneuve d’Ascq, France Las Vegas Art Museum, Las Vegas, USA Louisiana Museum, Humlebaek, Denmark Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA Miami Art Museum, Miami, USA Milwaukee HHK Foundation for Contemporary Art, Milwaukee, USA

Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, USA MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, USA Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, USA Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, USA Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, USA Musée Cantini, Marseille, France Musée de Grenoble, Grenoble, France Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA National Gallery of Art, Washington, USA Neuberger Museum, Purchase, USA Neue Galerie Graz am Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz, Austria New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, USA Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, USA Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, USA Power Art Institute of Australia, Sydney, Australia New York Public Library, New York, USA The Sayer Collection, London, United Kingdom Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, USA Speed Art Museum, Louisville, USA Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence, USA Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, München, Germany Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe, Germany St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, USA Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel University Art Museum at Berkeley, USA University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, USA University Museum, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, USA University of Wyoming Art Museum, Laramie, USA Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, USA

ISBN 978-1-904621-78-3

works © Edda Renouf catalogue © Annely Juda Fine Art / Edda Renouf 2017

Printed by Albe de Coker, Belgium