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The Dance of Colors and Forms

In the 1960s, the new realisms advocated and disseminated by French critic Pierre Restany, along with Pop Art and new figurations, marked a return to reality, a fundamental trend during this period that accompanied the informalisms of the previous decade and were theorized by Umberto Eco. This period also saw the emergence of tumultuous writing-painting, which left its mark on abstraction. The field of painting was reborn with the image of a reality progressively invaded by the great mythologies of everyday life, represented here by Yvan Messac (b. 1948), an exponent of International Narrative Figuration and the youngest member of this group, which became known in 1977 at the Everyday Mythologies Exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris.

Pop Art, photography, advertising, and cinema are sources of inspiration for Narrative Figuration and for a body of work that celebrates color and movement, as we can see in these two serigraphs, one of which is printed on a mirrored surface.

Both editions are dedicated to dance, representing a nocturnal atmosphere where the arabesques of the lines evolve in an imaginary spectacle, where the true characters and protagonists are the vibrant and contrasting colors, the suggested and audacious movement, and the form that results from a complicit gaze upon reality.

In Pas trop de macaroni dans le Pathé Marconi, the figures are cut out against flat color planes that overlap in a highly dynamic plastic space, in harmony with the suggested music rhythms. Similarly, in Tu me fais tourner la tête, the moon and the stars lend a romantic atmosphere in accordance with the title.

Maria João Fernandes - International Association of Art Critics (AICA)