15 May - 01 June 2019
Trocadero Artspace
Trocadero Artspace
Repoussoir is a series of oil paintings centred on red drapery as both subject and metaphor. Borrowing its title from the art-historical compositional device used to guide the viewer’s gaze into a scene, the exhibition shifts attention away from narrative subjects and instead foregrounds the theatrical “frame” itself. Inspired by the dramatic drapery found throughout Baroque and Mannerist painting — from Johannes Vermeer to Caravaggio and Hyacinthe Rigaud — the works isolate folds of fabric from their original contexts, inviting viewers to imagine the unseen dramas unfolding around them.
Rendered in intense shades of red, the paintings evoke passion, violence, desire, devotion, and spectacle. Ropes, ribbons, and nails bind and suspend the fabric in space, creating tension between restraint and support. These elements become metaphors for the structures that shape lived experience: obligation, expectation, attachment, and endurance. By removing the central figures from the frame, Repoussoir opens space for the audience to project their own narratives into the work, transforming the viewer from spectator into participant.
Rendered in intense shades of red, the paintings evoke passion, violence, desire, devotion, and spectacle. Ropes, ribbons, and nails bind and suspend the fabric in space, creating tension between restraint and support. These elements become metaphors for the structures that shape lived experience: obligation, expectation, attachment, and endurance. By removing the central figures from the frame, Repoussoir opens space for the audience to project their own narratives into the work, transforming the viewer from spectator into participant.
