Chiguer art contemporain is thrilled to present Les grandes illuminations, a solo exhibition by Julien Boily. The artist here revitalizes the traditional genre of still life by incorporating new technologies into his creative process. His compositions, crafted using modeling software, are centered around geometric shapes he generates with 3D computer graphics.
Adopting an innovative approach, Boily uses the paintings of Claude Monet, Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Côté, and Ozias Leduc as luminous filters through which he illuminates his own creations. Positioned out of sight, facing the depicted scenes, the works of these artists subtly reflect on the surfaces of the geometric objects in his compositions, influencing the brightness, ambiance, and coloration of the whole. The artist thus reactivates the out of frame principle, typically associated with cinema, but long established in painting, as evidenced by masterpieces such as “Las Meninas” (1656) by Velázquez and “The Arnolfini Portrait” (1434) by Van Eyck.
Following in the footsteps of the masters who preceded him, Boily then endeavors to pictorially reproduce, with precision, the subtle luminous variations of the works of Monet, Suzor-Côté, and Leduc in his canvases. Through this clever mise en abyme, the artist thus establishes a dialogue between disciplines and eras.
