The Secret of Optimism 24 x 48, Acrylic on Canvas
May 17 – June 10, 2012
Opening: Thursday, May 17, 6 -9 p.m.
Thompson Landry Gallery
The Distillery District
Stone Distillery Space
55 Mill Street, Building 5, #102
Toronto, Ontario, M5A 3C4
Tel: 416.364.4955
E-mail:info@thompsonlandry.com
www.thompsonlandry.com
Hours: Tues–Sat 11-6, Sun 12-5
The Thompson Landry Gallery is pleased to present: To Be Someone, a new series of beautiful acrylic paintings by Virginie Bocaert. Known for her exquisite renderings of the female body, Bocaert’s new series captivates the viewer with her ability to connect her subject’s emotions with those experienced by her audience. Her pieces reinforce the inseparable nature of the physical and emotional, which can be revealed in the body and expressions of each individual. Her paintings externalize the souls and desires of the subjects, lifting the veil of appearances and constructs which each individual possesses.
To Be Someone is as much about self-discovery as it is about connecting with others. Each figure reflects the human desire to have a prominent place in the life of another. An important part of Bocaert’s process is to let the viewer impose their own emotions and experiences on her characters as they interpret them. Bocaert’s approach to the body is very spiritual. It is her ability to convey the spirit of the figures drawn which makes her work so compelling. She has said “The beauty and aesthetics is omnipresent in my work, but the expression of the soul can refer to a beauty which is sometimes tortured, and questionable. I try, like a photographer would, to capture the moment of emotion but the passage of time makes my characters changes states very quickly. It is then for the viewer to live and to accept or not accept this emotion in the moment.”
Bocaert attended the École superieur de mode de Paris before working in fashion, which had a major impact on her painting career. Her most recent work maintains some influences from the fashion world but also explores the self-discovery she has gained in her artistic career, and in her personal life. Her new works are inspired by major life questions entering her forties, her newfound ability to accept herself and exchange her need for external beauty, for a quest for internal beauty. In contrast to fashion where the goal is to cover the body to give a person another aesthetic identity, her work aims to lift this veil, to bring out the fragile beauty that everyone possesses. The colours and materials, created by delicate glazes, mimic the veil that each individual has taken on and needs to be lifted to express real emotion.
To Be Someone is a breathtaking expression not only of Bocaert’s evolution as an artist but also as a woman. The figures imitate connections we make to those around us and the ability to be sensitive and compassionate to the emotions of our loved ones. Her work is a testament to look beyond the surface of both the painting and the individual to discover something new and inspiring. To Be Someone reveals that it is never too early or too late to experience new sides of ourselves with others and that self-discovery is ongoing.