To dive into the Daedalus of the sharp edged polygons composing Charles de Montaigu’s canvases, sometimes overlapping, harmonized, flying, excluding or exalting themselves, is an unusual adventure. At the limits of an equilibrium close to rupture, the artist is inviting us however right into the heart of the work. Then it is followed by an ambiguous and disturbing run, a duality between the centre which seems to escape, and fascinating, by following the lines of separation of the forms, converging towards a sharp meeting point, and then projecting us to the limits or outside of the canvas.
This is a stimulating come and go, through unusual coloured fields, where the artist does not hesitate to juxtapose a pink and an orange, a pink and a green, or an orange and a green. These audacious tones recall that Charles de Montaigu, great traveller, was impressed by the pink, red, blue, green, yellow façades of Indian houses he went across during his travelling in Orient. Poetry of the instant, nostalgia of dreamed or visited places, his works make their way through the years. Result of a long time work of breaks and sighs, sometimes of years of intervals, corresponding to the artist’s life meanders , they keep a constant incisive freshness. For this reason, a painting is never exactly the same and never exactly another one. In an unpredictable way, it lives in the present of the artist.
The main mission of Charles de Montaigu is sculpture. Drawing, etching, painting are the “materials” of his sculptures, says the artist. The polygonal forms sculpting the void play the equilibrists, the perilous situations, in constant search of balance. Light is gliding on the metal, deepens or reveals the volumes, is introducing in the thin jointures, so as to better emphasize the fragility, the impermanence of the instant. So the Angelus :
“Drops of rain on the metal
Perfume of music
Metallic scent” Charles de Montaigu
In a total free gesture, a few drawings of nudes, realized with a model, and some flowers with black ink, translate an extreme sensibility, privilege of the artist in the loneliness of his studio. A luminous and thrilling exhibition.
Charles de Montaigu lives and works in Laconnex near Geneva. Since 1973, he exhibits regularly in Switzerland, Europe and in the United States. Laureate of the “Bourse fédérale” of Fine Arts (1983). Award price of the Foundation for the Graphic Arts in Switzerland (1994). Acquisition and installation of Athys III (Iroko wood sculpture) in the Chicago Athaeneum Park at Schaumburg, Art under the Stars, Museum of Architecture and Design, Chicago. His works are included in many public and private international collections.
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