Olivier Aubry

Susann Scholl, Art Historian (M.A.)

18.11.2017

Olivier Aubry's art moves in the border area between painting and drawing. The starting point for the French artist, who lives and works in Lille, is always drawing. He describes it as his "daily exercise," thus emphasizing the diary-like character of his works. On colored, monochrome surfaces, Aubry shows reduced forms and individual words. Each picture panel features its own harmoniously coordinated color combination. By revealing the underlying layers of color at the edges, which are often identical to the color spectrum of the lines, the artist opens up an exciting field of interpretation of positive and negative. For technically speaking, at one point the drawings appear as engravings inscribed in the depths of the canvas. At other times, the artist lets the paint run freely over the surface, which thus - subject to gravity - forms random contours. For Aubry, these dialogues with the line are an attempt to extract an essence from the volatility and complexity of our globalized society and create something lasting.

Like the Scottish artist David Shrigley, Aubry uses the visual language of comics, which he executes in an almost childlike, anti-perfectionist style. In this way, a lightness enters the images that makes the viewer wonder about the meaning of the inserted words. Can a meaning be extracted from the shapes and words, which often seem like mathematical Venn diagrams, naming geographical and scientific terms? The drawn shapes, such as rays, waves, or skewed circles reminiscent of speech bubbles, seem to describe actions or sounds, though the terms demand another level of understanding from the drawings. Ultimately, however, they leave the viewer guessing. "Like a DJ, I recycle, mix, cut, and reassemble the information in an unconscious but exhilarating game whose meaning is unclear," is how Aubry himself describes his artistic approach. And so each presentation in the exhibition space becomes a new sample, a new stimulating narrative.

22.11.2017

Olivier Aubry's art moves in the border area between painting and drawing. The starting point for the French artist, who lives and works in Lille, is always drawing. He describes it as his "daily exercise," thus emphasizing the diary-like character of his works. Each picture panel has its own harmoniously coordinated color combination. By revealing the underlying layers of color at the edges, which are often identical to the color spectrum of the lines, the artist opens up an exciting field of interpretation of positive and negative. For technically speaking, at one point the drawings appear as engravings inscribed in the depths of the canvas. At other times, the artist lets the paint run freely over the surface, which thus - subject to gravity - forms random contours. For Aubry, these dialogues with the line are an attempt to extract an essence from the volatility and complexity of our globalized society and create something lasting. Like the Scottish artist David Shrigley, Aubry uses the visual language of comics, which he executes in an almost childlike, anti-perfectionist style.

In this way, a lightness enters the images that makes the viewer wonder about the meaning of the inserted words. Can a meaning be extracted from the shapes and words, which often seem like mathematical Venn diagrams, naming geographical and scientific terms? The shapes drawn, such as rays, waves, or skewed circles reminiscent of speech bubbles, seem to describe actions or sounds, and the terms demand another level of understanding from the drawings. Ultimately, however, they leave the viewer guessing. "Like a DJ, I recycle, mix, cut, and reassemble the information, in an unconscious but exhilarating game whose meaning is unclear," is how Aubry himself describes his artistic approach. And so each presentation in the exhibition space becomes a new sample, a new stimulating narrative.