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| "Takeover" 2012 |
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| "Escape" 2012 |
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| "Hold" oil on linen 34" x 40" 2011 |
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| "A New World" 2008 |
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| "In the Balance" 2008 |
Fabian Jean is an artist in Quebec whose work seems very familiar and yet unexpected at the same time. There's no denying his technical skills. I love the scumbled layering of the brushwork and he has a great feel for dramatic color composition. The subject matter has veered away from his earlier figurative and portrait work but even then his images were carefully choreographed arrangements of visual elements. This formal tendency has become more pronounced. Much of it has a kind of decorative feel explicit in his graphic elongated cloud forms (as in the piece "Hold" above) and he's clearly referencing historic sources, especially early Chinese painting. There are other realist painters out there who use animals and still life compositions in similar combination, to create odd and suggestively symbolic motifs. But Fabian Jean's images are sometimes just a twitch more off kilter than the usual fair in this vein. For me that makes all the difference. Throughout his work there is at once both a sense of humor and a peculiar kind of loneliness. After writing these little micro-reviews for four years you'd think I'd be better able to say what I mean but there it is. Sometimes you just have to look and see.
There are a few images at his gallery's website:
www.godardgallery.com
but for a larger survey of his work over the last six years go to his
Flickr page.
I want to thank you for the effort and thoughtfulness that you put into each and every one of your posts. I always look forward to seeing the images and reading your comments. You've introduced me to many amazing artists--I look forward to what's coming next! Thanks again.
ReplyDeleteAnother wonderful Canadian artist...seems the realist iconography is a strong one up here...Wonderful artist. This is a great blog..and thanks for bringing all of these great artists to more attention. Eh!
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