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Hédy GobaaBuisson 022017
2017
About the Item
Hédy Gobaa uses his immediate surroundings as his subject matter. Gobaa presents recognizable flora in a disembodied context, and the result is at once familiar and jarring. As of late and in this exhibition, he paints flowers found on walks in his neighbourhood, and others that he purchases at various florists. His production techniques are involved: He gathers or buys these flowers, photographs them extensively, and then selects and distorts about five percent of the collected images in Photoshop. He then takes a few of these warped digital images, projects them on a wall, and paints from that representation. The images are translated many times before they arrive at anything approximating the resulting paintings.
Gobaa uses digital editing to create the abstractions, what he calls the “realistic illusions” that populate the canvases. Yet there are recognizable flowers in the paintings in this exhibition: Pink carnations bloom in one work, their frilled petals at first burst forth in many shades of bright pink. Upon closer inspection, these petals dissolve into the unexpected geometry of squares and triangles. In another painting, the heads of carnations, seemingly from the same bunch as the ones previously detailed, foreground streaks of hot pink, red, white and black. The background colours are derived from the colours of the petals, stamens, and stems, and form is reduced to colour and texture. The backgrounds in these works are extensions of the foregrounds, and vice-versa.
What Gobaa is trying to show the viewer is that painting depicts derealized objects rather than actual ones, like his renderings of flowers. The photographic representations are digitally flattened versions of what once was, and perhaps what no longer is: The paintings perform a high tech memento mori. Reproductions of these works are more photorealistic than the paintings themselves. Stand before one of these large works and you see the brushstrokes, it may be easier to understand his artistic intent.
These paintings are reminiscent of the complicated, emotive works of Gerhard Richter, who can paint an abstract canvas that is challenging and interesting, followed by a hyperrealistic portrait that is seemingly devoid of brushstrokes. Unlike Richter, Gobaa’s works manage to synthesize and unify many different styles on a single picture plane, creating works that are uniquely his own.
- Creator:Hédy Gobaa (1979, Canadian)
- Creation Year:2017
- Dimensions:Height: 30 in (76.2 cm)Width: 40 in (101.6 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Montreal, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU4762492643
Hédy Gobaa
Hédy Gobaa is bi-national, with citizenship in both Tunisia and France. Having grown up in Tunisia until the age of 16, they then pursued an education in Visual Art in France from 1996 to 2005. After returning to Tunisia, they exhibited their artwork from 2007 to 2010, up until the start of the Arab Spring. Seeking greater artistic freedom and an experimental practice, they relocated to Montreal in 2013 to make a living from their painting. Eventually, they enrolled in a PhD program for Art Studies and Practice, obtaining their degree in November of 2018. Upon arriving in Montreal, the artist found that their previous paintings and exhibitions from their time in Tunisia had not been taken into account. This was partly due to the difficulty of bringing them along and also due to a general lack of interest in Maghrebian art among the local art community. As a newcomer, it was also challenging to convey the political reality that they had experienced, when their experiences were not well understood by others. To overcome these obstacles, the artist developed a strategy aimed at unifying Tunisia and Quebec, despite their many differences including geographical, social, and economic disparities. They broadened their perspective to include an ultra-connected, globalized space, and worked towards creating a bridge to connect these two cultural poles.
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