François AVRIL Bretagne
Presentation
The last time that François Avril exhibited in Paris was in 2017. From 19 June to 28 August 2021, Avril will be back at the Huberty & Breyne Gallery with a selection of works - pencil and pen & ink drawings, works on canvas, lithographs and tree sculptures - that have never been shown in the capital.
Since March 2020, the artist's movements have been confined to Brittany. Avril has been immersing himself in all the wild grandeur and moody beauty of the Breton landscape, exploring its wide-open spaces - its marshes and moorlands, those rugged coastlines that seem to go on for ever ("Penn ar Bed", head of the world, the Bretons call "Finistère", the end of the earth according to the French). François Avril has been to the big cities - to Paris and New York and Tokyo - and now he has settled for Brittany.
In this new exhibition, Avril invites viewers to discover, or rediscover, for themselves this region so dear to his heart. With great subtlety and elegance, the marks of his pencil or pen and the strokes of his brush compose a series of imaginary landscapes that are reduced to essentials and stripped of "chatter": expanses of sand and sea, the odd scattering of rocks, cliffs, a lighthouse, kelp beds... These works suggest a back story and evoke memories of a world of simple pleasures.
Preview: Friday 18 June until 8p.m., with the artist.
Works available to view online from Saturday 19 June 2021.
Virtual tour
Works selection
Videos
