Martine Jardel Exhibition at Visual Aid March 21, 2006

http://www.visualaid.org

"Atmospheric Conditions," a solo exhibition of Martine Jardel's paintings is currently on view at Visual Aid's gallery space through May 30th.

Jardel's "morceaux d'espaces," paintings are assemblages of small, multi-layered color-field oil paintings that are fitted together to create larger works. The resulting effect is breath-taking -- the viewer is shown deep layers of color and depth which establish an interesting dialogue of color and blankness, landscapes and emptyness, and hidden doors and entryways.

Also on view are a collection of Jardel's "space" paintings. In the artist's words, "these works show a process of sedimentation. Thin layers of paint let the light seep out from within the painting. The effect of color transparencies, light and dark, help create a mood or an atmospheric quality which enhances the reading of marks, lines and colors as loose depictions of elements in nature." Jardel's paintings have many recurrent shapes: a tree or a body ? Sky or water? But ultimately they are but traces, remnants of images with no fixed identity. It is left to the viewer to contemplate and enjoy.

Jardel speaks of painting as, "an engagement with the ambiguous and the unknown. The final surface of a painting is the product of the traces of all the layers beneath it. This process of layering paint generates unstable meanings which reflect the arbitrariness of language. Painting is resistant to naming."

The fifteen pieces of art are unique, inviting, and beautifully displayed. Step into the gallery and allow yourself to be taken with color, space, mystery, and depth.

Free.

About Visual Aid:
Visual Aid helps produce, present, and preserve the work of professional artists whose careers are challenged because of a life-threatening illness. Visual Aid serves professional artists from the nine-county Bay Area, providing artists with direct services from art supplies to exhibitions and career development.