François AVRIL 324 DESSINS VOL II

François AVRIL
324 DESSINS VOL. II
 
To coincide with the publication of 324 dessins Vol. II, Huberty & Breyne | Les Arts dessinés is exhibiting some hundred new works by François Avril from this second volume of drawings – a selection, in the form of a narrative, that delicately and sensitively illustrates the nature of the artist’s graphic universe. The drawings, taken from François Avril’s notebooks and folders, have been made over a number of years and, for the most part, stored away in his studio without ever being published or shown. Interior landscapes, sea- and cityscapes, these are exquisite works that demonstrate Avril’s diverse and original approaches to his subject matter – whether a fine black pen flowing over a sheet of white paper, colour crayons fired on to the pages of a notebook, or a biro frenetically scribbling in a burst of semi-automatic writing.

Produced in the period between 2007 and 2023, these hundred or so drawings take the viewer on a marvellous journey through a work of rare artistry.

“François Avril’s world resonates with the silence and the solitude of an Edward Hopper, the compositional rigour of a Piero della Francesca and that evidence of something essential we find in Giorgio Morandi. Beaches, rocks, cliffs, trees, houses: the vocabulary is simple. The magic comes from the way these elements are combined and their structuring through the act of drawing, from which everything flows. This is the alpha and the omega of his work: ‘Everything comes from the drawing for me, everything begins with the mark made.’ This gives us a better understanding of why he prefers to describe himself as a ‘drawer’, rather than an ‘artist’ or a ‘painter’, while at the same acknowledging a compromise, recognising that he – an artist who came to painting despite himself – makes the paintings of someone who draws.”

Stéphanie Pioda, art historian
 
Exhibition from 16 June to 29 July 2023

Private view: Thursday 15 June, from 6.30 pm, in the presence of the artist

Works available to view online from 16 June 2023

Huberty & Breyne | Les Arts dessinés
19 rue Chapon, 75003 Paris