ARTISTS
Louise Despont: Afterlifes
Nicelle Beauchene Gallery is pleased to present Afterlifes, Louise Despont鈥檚 seventh solo exhibition with the gallery.
In Afterlifes, Louise Despont explores the ways in which the fabric of our material world is intrinsically interwoven with the forms and forces of the invisible world. Thresholds and transitions, language and communication are at the center of these works鈥攊n which Despont considers both the spaces of communion and the various dialects of correspondence. While her earlier drawings were focused on the themes of polarity and vibration鈥攁s related to pattern, sound, healing, and homeopathy鈥攈er recent works are deeply aligned with the hermetic principle of correspondence鈥攁s above, so below鈥攚hich limns the elemental connection between different states of consciousness, or planes of existence, and shows how they affect one another by creating a resonant bond.
Just as we are able to enter into a resonance with a pattern, here we are invited to enter into a resonance with a space鈥攚here the visible and the invisible are interwoven. Gravity disappears and a kind of weightlessness pervades the atmosphere. There seems to exist an almost silent humming at the borderland between two states of being. Here, the threshold can be understood both literally, as describing one place leading to another, or one form evolving into another, and metaphorically, as the transition from one field of consciousness to the next.
Comprising small collage works on paper alongside large-scale drawings on canvas, Afterlifes envisions the ways in which we might perceive the invisible lineaments of a correspondence between plants, animals, stones, stars, and ancestors. These correspondences are well documented on the physical plane: phosphorus can be found in a fawn鈥檚 finest bone; the residue of a rabbit鈥檚 skeleton may end up in the stem of a wild poppy; copper is detected in the vocal chord of a sparrow. But what are the spiritual connections between the physical and invisible world? How does the intelligence of the invisible鈥攖he afterlife of plants, animals, and ancestors鈥攊nhabit and inform our interior lives?
A consummate draftsman, Despont has historically used architectural stencils, graphite, and colored pencils on antique ledger book paper to create works that have been described as "meticulously executed, delicate drawings that hover between sacred geometry, esoteric symbols, and essentialized forms." Over the past several years, however, the artist has shifted to working in collage鈥攗sing botanical illustrations, architectural lithographs, and marbled endpapers鈥攁nd then drawing the collages on antique canvas. In the process, she still engages the techniques learned from using pencil on paper鈥攚orking methodically and meditatively with progressive layers of rubbed and sanded pigment.
Recommended for you
Nicelle Beauchene Gallery is pleased to present Afterlifes, Louise Despont鈥檚 seventh solo exhibition with the gallery.
In Afterlifes, Louise Despont explores the ways in which the fabric of our material world is intrinsically interwoven with the forms and forces of the invisible world. Thresholds and transitions, language and communication are at the center of these works鈥攊n which Despont considers both the spaces of communion and the various dialects of correspondence. While her earlier drawings were focused on the themes of polarity and vibration鈥攁s related to pattern, sound, healing, and homeopathy鈥攈er recent works are deeply aligned with the hermetic principle of correspondence鈥攁s above, so below鈥攚hich limns the elemental connection between different states of consciousness, or planes of existence, and shows how they affect one another by creating a resonant bond.
Just as we are able to enter into a resonance with a pattern, here we are invited to enter into a resonance with a space鈥攚here the visible and the invisible are interwoven. Gravity disappears and a kind of weightlessness pervades the atmosphere. There seems to exist an almost silent humming at the borderland between two states of being. Here, the threshold can be understood both literally, as describing one place leading to another, or one form evolving into another, and metaphorically, as the transition from one field of consciousness to the next.
Comprising small collage works on paper alongside large-scale drawings on canvas, Afterlifes envisions the ways in which we might perceive the invisible lineaments of a correspondence between plants, animals, stones, stars, and ancestors. These correspondences are well documented on the physical plane: phosphorus can be found in a fawn鈥檚 finest bone; the residue of a rabbit鈥檚 skeleton may end up in the stem of a wild poppy; copper is detected in the vocal chord of a sparrow. But what are the spiritual connections between the physical and invisible world? How does the intelligence of the invisible鈥攖he afterlife of plants, animals, and ancestors鈥攊nhabit and inform our interior lives?
A consummate draftsman, Despont has historically used architectural stencils, graphite, and colored pencils on antique ledger book paper to create works that have been described as "meticulously executed, delicate drawings that hover between sacred geometry, esoteric symbols, and essentialized forms." Over the past several years, however, the artist has shifted to working in collage鈥攗sing botanical illustrations, architectural lithographs, and marbled endpapers鈥攁nd then drawing the collages on antique canvas. In the process, she still engages the techniques learned from using pencil on paper鈥攚orking methodically and meditatively with progressive layers of rubbed and sanded pigment.
Artists on show
Contact details
