Chiguer art contemporain invites you to discover Martin Bureau’s exhibition The Table of the Honorables, in which the artist brings together two series of paintings, Ethic Detonation, The Fabulous Gourmet Club and the monumental painting The Carrousel of the Apocalypse. These works have in common the subject of ostentatious tables: tables of power and banqueting tables.
In this new body of work, Martin continues his exploration of watercolour with a contemporary imagery deployed in large format that, while maintaining a detailed figurative approach, allows accidents in the image to emerge. Vapoury, blurred areas stand alongside the meticulous, realistic execution of the forms. The artist emphasizes the fluidity of watercolour, making more of its evocative potential, and exploding the material of the paint, like the excesses of war and the ostentation of power.
Le carrousel de l’apocalypse (The Carousel of the Apocalypse), a watercolour measuring 7 feet high by 16 feet wide, is impressive both for its size and for the fact that it represents a synthesis of the themes developed by the artist in recent years. If the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse – death, famine, war and conquest – as defined in the New Testament are clear, the painting questions the hypothesis of the 5th Horseman in this era of the Anthropocene, as technological, environmental and geopolitical upheavals point to the most catastrophic scenario imaginable.
“The curious idea of using the table as the subject of my paintings came to me when Russia was invading Ukraine. We were soon astounded to see the great diplomatic structures such as NATO and the UN being seized. Whether at major international meetings around round tables, at diplomatic receptions or welcoming foreign leaders, what fascinates me is the great political theatre that tries to make us believe that a solution is imminent… without it ever happening, while the global military-industrial complex revels in it. ” – Martin Bureau
