Jean-Pierre Lafrance - Episode III 48x72 in / 122x183 cm

Jean-Pierre Lafrance, Episode III 48x72 in / 122x183 cm uses mixed media on panel to create a large-scale work. This piece invites interpretation through its expressive abstraction.

Jean-Pierre Lafrance remains above all a man of intuition; he goes where he feels his own sources emerge: within himself. This is why the body has so far dominated his subject matter. It is precisely in relation to this theme that the most vital transformation in his approach has taken place.

During the first years of his production, and until the late 1980s, he approached this theme from the outside, meaning he primarily translated the body in its visible, perceptible expressions. Today, it is the interior of the envelope that interests him. His most recent production, in which many – including myself – thought they recognized landscape inspiration, is eloquent in this regard. In this series, he continues the same quest for the body, which he fragments even further.

This body now merges with its environment, taking shape in a bubbling of matter where the notion of volume is inscribed. The term "volume" is paramount here, and it should not be confused with "perspective," because Jean-Pierre Lafrance transposes onto the canvas this singularity of body and matter, and he does so without deconstructing as the Cubists did.

He fragments and unites the body in a molecular dance that respects the two-dimensional reality of the support. A great plastic and aesthetic success, a series that will continue to amaze us.

Important / Contextual note:

The illustration of the artwork in the living room setting is a digital simulation. It does not necessarily reflect the exact scale or the actual dimensions of the painting.