Artworks of the artist
Traces of Life
Lizards and shells, snails and molluscs – in the picture world of Alexis Gorodine we discover organisms, which – quasi off the evolution – since primeval times remain apparently on the same level of development. Accordingly these creatures are also in the paintings in a strange state of suspension, one moment before petrifying. In their significantly reduced shapes they look almost like fossils, traces of former organisms, on the mineral surface of the canvas. Here we find a special preference of Gorodine, which has its cause in eternal outlasting of these early life forms.
And then humans step into the scenario: Early cave designs come to mind, when a bull head appears only in his outlines on the earth like surface. In the same context the emerging characters are to be seen, cryptograms of a past advanced culture. It is always the beginnings, which interest Gorodine, the beginning of organic life, just as the beginning of human culture.
At the same time his pictures are highly modern, because in the combination of old and new, of figuration and abstraction one discovers fresh novelty: on one hand the pictures seem to be very known for us, they affect a preconscious condition of our consciousness. On the other, the creatures appear often, as if they where coming from our machine world. So in “Glory of the sea” a shellfish can become an imaginary submarine. In addition the pictures with their porous and scratched surfaces remind us of the French Decollagistes and of big-city wall graffitties.
The strength of the pictures of Alexis Gorodine lies in this masterful linkage of the disparate. His pictures radiate archaic peace, they contain the original strength of life. The viewer is invited to set free and win for himself this strength.
1944 – Born in Malicorne, France.
1969 – Ingénieurs studies
1970 – Atelier d’urbanisme, Fort de France Martinique
1972 – Engraving studio Louis Calevaert-Brun in Paris
1974 – 1975 – Atelier Sauve-qui-peut, Paris
1977 – 1982 – Travel in Africa, south and north America
1982 – 1991 – Lived and worked in Brooklyn, NY
1992 – lives and works in Paris
EXHIBITIONS
1977
Galerie la Mandragore, Saint-Paul-de-Vence
Sala Mendoza, Caracas
1980
Musée d’Art Moderne, Bogota
1981
Centro de Bellas Artes, Maracaibo (Venezuela)
1982
Galerie Garces-Velasquez, Bogota
Musée de la Tertulia, Cali, Colombie
1983
Galerie La Hune, Paris
Centro de Arte Actual, Pereira, Colombie
L’Autre Musée, Bruxelles
1984
Galerie des Bastions, Genève
1985
Cayman Gallery, New York
1986
Musée Omar Rayo, Roldanillo, Colombie
Mari Gallery of Westchester, NewYork
Galerie Quintero, Barranquilla, Colombie
1988
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Caracas
Venezuelan Art Gallery, NewYork
Galerie Art et Communiquer, Paris
1989
Galerie de la Cathédrale, Fribourg, Suisse
Brownstone Gallery, Brooklyn, New York
Sala Mendoza, Caracas
1990
Galerie Ruta Correa, Fribourg, Allemagne
Musée Soto, Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela
1991
Galerie Clave, Caracas,Venezuela
SAGA, Galerie Namy-Caulier, Paris
Galerie Wendelin Kapelle, Marbach, Allemagne
1992
Galerie Flak, Paris
Dannenberg Gallery, New York
ART MIAMI, Galerie Der Brücke, Argentine
SAGA, Galerie Namy-Caulier, Grand Palais,Paris
Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Caracas, Venezuela
Gallery Mikimoto, Tokyo, Japon
1993
Galerie Der Brücke, Buenos-Aires, Argentine
Galerie Capazza, Paris
Galerie Entretemps, La Roche-sur-Yon
Galerie l’Estampe, Strasbourg
Galerie Namy-Caulier, Paris
Gallery Mikimoto, Tokyo, Japon
SAGA, Grand Palais, Paris
Art Multiples, Düsseldorf, Allemagne
1994
NICAF,Yokohama, Japon
SAGA, Galerie Namy-Caulier,Paris
Galerie Flak, Paris
Galerie Capazza, Nançay
Galerie BMB, Amsterdam
1995
Foire d’Amsterdam, Galerie BMB, Amsterdam
SAGA, Galerie Namy-Caulier, Paris
Hôtel de Rothschild, Paris
Foire de Bruges, Belgique
Galerie BMB, Amsterdam
1996
Art 96, St’art, Strasbourg
SAGA, Paris
Galerie Kunstart,Francfort
Galerie Van Straaten, Chicago
Galerie Asumaro, Tokyo
Galerie Grafiekhuis, Bruges
1997
Galerie Capazza, Nançay
Galerie Patrick Gaultier, Quimper
Images 97, Chartres
SAGA Paris, Estampa Madrid, Galerie Michèle Broutta
1998
Galerie BMB, Amsterdam
Foire de Zurich, Suisse
Temple de Chauray, France
Hof ten Doeyer, Zwalm, Belgique
Galerie Asumaro, Tokyo
1999
Galerie Athéna, Courtrai, Belgique
Galerie Nobel, Oslo, Norvège
2000
Galerie BMB, Amsterdam
Galerie Indigo, Damme, Belgique
Galerie J. Chevolleau, Pouzauges, Vendée
2001
Galerie Chantal Mélanson, Annecy
Galerie Robert Giroud, Grenoble
Galerie Art Vocation Mobile, Paris
2002
Galerie AA, Clermont-Ferrand
Galerie du Cercle, Orgeval
Espace Saint-Eman, Chartres
2003
Galerie Gollong, St-Paul-de-Vence
Galerie Capazza, Nançay
Galerie Dessers, Hasselt, Belgique
Galerie AVM, Paris
2004
Musée de Vendôme, Vendôme
Temple de Chauray, Centre d’art contemporain
Galerie Nobel, Oslo, Norvège
Atelier Vanmeenen, Harelbeke, Belgique
2005
Galerie Claudine Legrand, Paris
Galerie Dessers, Hasselt, Belgique
Diana Lowenstein Gallery, Miami, USA
Atelier Vanmeenen, ArTendens, Beffroi,Bruges, Belgique
2006
Espace Kiron,Paris
Contrast Gallery,Bruxelles
Atelier Vanmeenen,Harelbeke,Belgique
Gallery of Graphic Arts ,New-York, U.S.A.
Galerie Capazza, Nançay
2007
Chapelle Saint-Jacques, Vendôme (catalogue PDF)
Galerie Dessers, Louvain,Belgique
Centro Cultural Eladio Aleman Sucre,Valencia,Venezuela
Galerie Claudine Legrand, Paris
Galerie A V M ,Paris
2008
Atelier Vanmeenen,Harelbeke,Belgique
Galerie Ludwig Lefevere,Knokke-Zoute,Belgique
Galerie Moser,Osnabrück,Allemagne
Graveurs du Monde, Artemise-en-Creuse, Crocq
Galerie Antireflets, Nantes
2009
Médiathèque de Luçon,Vendée
2010
Gabinete del Dibujo y de la Estampa,Valencia, Venezuela (catalogue PDF)
Galerie Ludwig Lefevere, Knokke-Zoute, Belgique
Atelier Art Actuel, Nogent-sur-Marne
Lineart/Galerie Ludwig Lefevere /Gand /Belgique
Expositions collectives, musées, foires, salons
Salon de Vitry
Salon de Mai
Grands et jeunes d’aujourd’hui
Musée d’art contemporain, Caracas
Biennale du Dessin, Caracas
Salon Arturo Michelena, Valencia, Venezuela
Art Basel
Art Frankfort
SAGA,Paris
Biennale de gravure de Porto-Rico
L’Art à l’école, Paris
Temple de Chauray
Art Miami
Art Multiples, Düsseldorf
Foire de Zürich
Espace Pierre Cardin, galerie Capazza, Paris
Park Slope Gallery, New York
Image 97, Chartres
Graveurs du Monde, Artémis-en-Creuse
Fondation Nationale des Arts Graphiques et Plastiques
St’art, Strasbourg
Lineart, Gand, Belgique
Salon de l’Estampe, Paris
Kunst Rai, Amsterdam
Biennale de Baugé
Galerie Indigo,Damme,Belgique
Galerie Dessers,30 jaar ,Hasselt,Belgique
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden,the Rare Event, Coral Gables, Florida,U.S.A. (catalogue pdf)
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Caracas, Venezuela
Sala Mendoza, Caracas
Galeria de Arte Nacional, Caracas
Banco Mercantil, Caracas
Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Caracas
Musée d’Art Moderne, Bogota, Colombie
Musée de laTertulia, Cali, Colombie
Musée Omar Rayo, Roldanillo, Colombie
Brooklyn Museum, NewYork
Phillip Morris Collection, New York
Metro North, New York
Exxon Collection, USA
Mobil Collection, USA
Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris
Fond National d’Art Contemporain, Paris
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris
Musée d’Annecy, France
Artothèques de Caen, Annecy, Nantes, Montpellier
Irving Trust Bank, Caracas
Avero Achmea, Amstelveen
Edition d’Estampes
Jacqueline de Champvallins
Place des Arts
L’Estampe
Galerie Namy-Caulier
Art MPF
Miroir de l’Art
Bibliographie
Javier Vidal, El Universal, Caracas, 1976
Roberto Guevara,”Naturaleza,El Nacional, Caracas,1981
Eduardo Serrano, Bernard Gheerbrandt, catalogue, Galerie la Hune, 1982
Maritza Jimenez, El Universal, Caracas, 1985
Miguel Gonzalez, “La naturaleza al campo conceptual”, Museo Omar Rayo, Roldanillo, Colombie, 1985
Roberto Guevara, ” Dibujo en Bienal”, El Nacional, Caracas, 1986
Elizabeth Lizarralde, catalogue, “Terrenos”, Museo Bellas Artes, Caracas, 1986
Roberto Guevara, “The Sunken Spaces”, Venezuelan Art Center, New-York
Axel Stein, catalogue, Sala Mendoza, Caracas, 1989
Malina Galac, TAGA, Caracas, Venezuela, 1991
Gérard Xuriguera, Jorge Rovatti, catalogue, Galerie Der Brücke, Buenos-Aires, Argentine, 1992
Miguel Briante, “Obra de la duda”, La Nacion, Buenos Aires, 1992
Juan Carlos Palenzuela, Georges Leprince, catalogue, Fondation Nationale des Arts Graphiques et Plastiques, Paris, 1996
Christine Frérot, Johan Debruyne, catalogue, Galerie BMB, Amsterdam, 1998
Charles d’Estève, galerie BMB, Amsterdam, 2000
Thorsten Obrist, catalogue, Essen, 2002
Pierre Souchaud, Artension, “Graveurs du Monde”, Artémis-en-Creuse, 2002
David Gaillardon, Berry Magazine,exposition Galerie Capazza, 2003
Nicole Coudert, Charles d’Estève,catalogue Galerie Capazza, 2006
Pedro Douaihi Toledo, “por amor al arte”, Revista Club, Valencia, 2008
Aude Boissaye,Regard,revue “Vernissages”, 2009
Film « Alexis Gorodine ,”un univers”, Olga Gambis, 2008