"Key to All Mythologies" | Nicole Charbonnet

Nicole Charbonnet 

Key to All Mythologies

The Arthur Roger Gallery is pleased to present Key to All Mythologies, an exhibition of paintings by Nicole Charbonnet. The exhibition will be on view at Arthur Roger Gallery, located at 432 Julia Street, from January 5–February 23, 2019. The gallery will host an opening reception with the artist in attendance, Saturday, January 5 from 6-8 pm.

Myths are a timeless connection to the human story for Nicole Charbonnet. These stories have been retold over and over across all forms and cultures and provide perspective to the human condition. And while today’s monsters may appear different, human nature remains the same. Charbonnet states, “the mythological paintings are a response to current social, cultural and political situations and a materialization of the silent unfolding phenomenological experiences of perception, cognition, and memory.” Key to all Mythologies, the artist’s seventh exhibition with the gallery and features medium- to large-scale paintings based on motifs from featuring the human form drawn from mythological paintings. There are recognizable images from noteworthy artists such as Henri Matisse, Édouard Manet, Michelangelo, and many others.

The distressed works are constructed using an additive and subtractive process. Layers of collage – literal debris from the artist’s life including letters, receipts, books, and fabric – are built up and manipulated with paint, modeling paste, marble dust, and plaster. The compositions, which include superimposed words, textures, and images, are repeatedly sanded, scraped, carved and repainted. They retain a sort of palimpsestic record of preexisting stages and become metaphors for the phenomena of recollection. In Austerlitz, W.G. Sebald, wrote, "Our concern with history...is a concern with preformed images already imprinted on our brains, images at which we keep staring while the truth lies elsewhere, away from it all."