FR/
Valerio Adami l’optimiste diseur de peinture.
Valerio Adami a vu la lumière du jour à Bologne, en Italie, le 17 mars 1935. Etudiant la peinture à l’Académie des Beaux-Arts de Brera à Milan à l’âge de 21 ans, il découvre rapidement à l’issue de cette époque teintée d’influences classiques et expressionnistes son langage propre. Dès 28 ans, vivant alors entre l’Italie et Paris, il parcourt le monde et expose ses travaux, notamment en Amérique, en Inde, à Cuba, au Mexique, en Israël, en France, en Argentine, au Japon, en Espagne, en Grèce, en Belgique, en Suisse. Dessinateur avant tout, ses œuvres aux contours noirs rappellent la démarcation propre aux bandes dessinées ou aux vitraux, tels que ceux qu’il réalise en 1984 pour le hall de l’hôtel de ville de Vitry-sur-Seine en association avec le maître verrier Jacques Loire. Inspiratrice d’écrivains et de philosophes, son œuvre unique met en jeu l’histoire de la représentation, conjugue de grands aplats complexes « d’un passé qui se mélange avec le présent dans l’illusion du futur » et dans les greniers de sa mémoire, recompose d’infinies combinaisons. Vers la fin des années 60, Valerio Adami s’impose comme l’un des acteurs essentiels du mouvement de la Nouvelle Figuration. L’artiste bouleverse la représentation, dessine magistralement les objets et figures, tout en repensant les volumes, en multipliant les images, pour les fondre, les scinder en un seul et même tableau aux couleurs pures et sans ombre. Couleurs, contours, traits se marient dans un espace où les trois dimensions se réorganisent et où l’œil du regardeur peut s’égarer. La période très importante de la fin des années 1960 et du début 1970, que nous présentons dans cette exposition, est d’abord orientée vers une représentation de lieux urbains neutres. Puis, l’artiste met en œuvre un procédé de découpage, de montage et d’associations et évoque la banalité des intérieurs à laquelle succède une peinture sciemment étrange, intégrant des lettres et des mots. Ce travail spécifique et fondateur consacrant une forme de mémoire commune et culturelle peut aujourd’hui être considéré rétrospectivement comme l’un des plus marquants, des plus parlants et des plus optimistes de toute la figuration narrative. Le trait d’Adami n’est autre qu’un point en mouvement, ferme, maitrisé, une action en marche, source de vie, vecteur d’inspiration. Ses personnages s’agitent, s’élancent, se projettent, parlent fort avec le corps, avec les mains, héros de commedia dell’arte se jouant dans la lumière de planches lumineuses, scènes de confrontation intense et de contraste spectaculaire. Par ses projections loquaces, la précision de son geste, la force de son mouvement, son intemporalité mélangeant notre passé à son présent, ses carrefours hallucinants d’illusions colorées, ses contrastes imprévisibles, ses thèmes fascinants d’espoir, Valerio Adami demeure sans conteste un puissant optimiste, diseur de peinture.
EN/
Valerio Adami, the optimistic painter.
Valerio Adami was born in Bologna, Italy, on March 17, 1935. He studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera in Milan, at the age of 21 and quickly discovered his own language at the end of this period tinged with classical and expressionist influences. At the age of 28, living between Italy and Paris, he travelled the world and exhibited his work in America, India, Cuba, Mexico, Israel, France, Argentina, Japan, Spain, Greece, Belgium and Switzerland. Draughtsman above all, his works with black outlines recall the demarcation proper to comic strips or stained glass windows such as those he created in 1984 for the hall of the town hall of Vitry-sur-Seine in association with the master glass artist Jacques Loire. Inspiring writers and philosophers, his unique work brings into play the history of representation, combining large complex flat tints "of a past that mixes with the present in the illusion of the future" and in the attics of his memory recomposes infinite combinations. Towards the end of the 1960s, Valerio Adami established himself as one of the essential actors of the New Figuration movement. The artist disrupts representation, masterfully drawing objects and figures while rethinking volumes by multiplying the images to merge them into a single painting with pure colors and no shadows. The colors, contours and lines are combined in a space where the three dimensions are reorganized and where the eye of the viewer can get lost. The very important period of the late 1960s and early 1970s that we present in this exhibition is first oriented towards a representation of neutral urban places. Then the artist implements a process of cutting, montage and associations and evokes the banality of interiors, which is followed by a deliberately strange painting incorporating letters and words. This specific and founding work, which consecrates a form of common and cultural memory, can be considered today, in retrospect, as one of the most striking, most telling and most optimistic of all narrative figuration. Adami's line is nothing other than a point in firm movement, a mastered action in motion, a source of life, a vector of inspiration. His characters are agitating, dashing, projecting, speaking loudly with their bodies and hands, commedia dell'arte heroes playing in the light of luminous boards, scenes of intense confrontation and spectacular contrast. By its loquacious projections, the precision of its gesture, the force of its movement, its timelessness mixing our past to its present, its hallucinating crossroads of coloured illusions, its unpredictable contrasts, its fascinating themes of hope, Valerio Adami remains without question a powerful optimist teller of painting.
Valerio Adami was born in Bologna, Italy, on March 17, 1935. He studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera in Milan, at the age of 21 and quickly discovered his own language at the end of this period tinged with classical and expressionist influences. At the age of 28, living between Italy and Paris, he travelled the world and exhibited his work in America, India, Cuba, Mexico, Israel, France, Argentina, Japan, Spain, Greece, Belgium and Switzerland. Draughtsman above all, his works with black outlines recall the demarcation proper to comic strips or stained glass windows such as those he created in 1984 for the hall of the town hall of Vitry-sur-Seine in association with the master glass artist Jacques Loire. Inspiring writers and philosophers, his unique work brings into play the history of representation, combining large complex flat tints "of a past that mixes with the present in the illusion of the future" and in the attics of his memory recomposes infinite combinations. Towards the end of the 1960s, Valerio Adami established himself as one of the essential actors of the New Figuration movement. The artist disrupts representation, masterfully drawing objects and figures while rethinking volumes by multiplying the images to merge them into a single painting with pure colors and no shadows. The colors, contours and lines are combined in a space where the three dimensions are reorganized and where the eye of the viewer can get lost. The very important period of the late 1960s and early 1970s that we present in this exhibition is first oriented towards a representation of neutral urban places. Then the artist implements a process of cutting, montage and associations and evokes the banality of interiors, which is followed by a deliberately strange painting incorporating letters and words. This specific and founding work, which consecrates a form of common and cultural memory, can be considered today, in retrospect, as one of the most striking, most telling and most optimistic of all narrative figuration. Adami's line is nothing other than a point in firm movement, a mastered action in motion, a source of life, a vector of inspiration. His characters are agitating, dashing, projecting, speaking loudly with their bodies and hands, commedia dell'arte heroes playing in the light of luminous boards, scenes of intense confrontation and spectacular contrast. By its loquacious projections, the precision of its gesture, the force of its movement, its timelessness mixing our past to its present, its hallucinating crossroads of coloured illusions, its unpredictable contrasts, its fascinating themes of hope, Valerio Adami remains without question a powerful optimist teller of painting.
