Solo show - R&F Gallery

Alexandre Masino
Geological Radiance

December 1st, 2012 - January 19th, 2013
Vernissage : December 1st from 5pm to 7pm

R&F Gallery
84 Ten Broeck Ave.
Kingston, NY 12401

845-331-3112

Alexandre Masino

Le chant de silence I, 2012
Encaustic monotype on Gampi paper
23” x 34.5”

I am presenting next week a solo show at the R&F Gallery. R&F Handmade Paint is a truly important institution both in the encaustic community and in the art world in general. It is a real pleasure for me to be working with them on this project and with Laura Moriarty, the gallery director. If ever you read Inside the Painter’s Studio by Joe Fig, you’ll see that R&F is quoted as a favorite brand of paint used by a wide variety of artists. If you are interested in encaustic, R&F doesn’t need any introduction, it is the milestone both in terms of manufacturing great products, organizing workshops and as a research center.

Alexandre Masino 

La racine des jours I, 2012
Encaustic monotype on Gampi paper
23” x 34.5”

The show I am presenting evolves around the depiction of mountainscapes and consists mostly of a new series of encaustic monotypes created for the occasion. Along side this new body of work, I will be presenting large encaustic landscapes on panel as well as a still life with gold leaf. 

 

Alexandre Masino

La porte des nuages I, 2012
Encaustic monotype on Kozuke paper
23” x 34.5”

This show is an occasion for me to present, for the first time, two works of my series Ehon; paintings made on books mounted on panels. Ehon is a Japanese word that means “picture book”. By the early eighteenth century, ehon were primarily printed books that featured pictures, although they frequently contained essays, poems, and other written texts and calligraphy. 

Otani Boku (active c. 1880 - 1910)

Album of paintings

Ink and colours on paper

c. 1881 - 1886, Meiji period

In 2008, I saw an exhibition at the ROM in Toronto, where they presented beautiful exemples of ehons and it triggered the idea of producing works exploring this dialogue created between books and painting. For this series I have mounted sketchbook on panels, imbedding them in wax, transforming them into a great surface to work with encaustic and charcoal.

 Alexandre Masino

Transfigurations (Ehon), 2012
Encaustic and charcoal on book on panel
8” x 23”

 Alexandre Masino

L’écorce du temps (Ehon), 2012
Encaustic, charcoal and antique nails on book on panel
14.25” x 22.75”

Alexandre Masino

L’écorce du temps (Ehon) - detail

If the Japanese ehons are of interest to you, the Spencer Collection at the New York Public Library, which concentrates on illustrated books of all periods and regions, possess some three hundred manuscripts and fifteen hundred printed books from Japan; the manuscripts range from the 12th century to the 20th century, and the printed works from the year 770 to the present. Roger S. Keyes has written a beautiful and insightful book on the matter in association with the New York Public Library entitled Ehon The Artist and the Book in Japan. You can easily get yourself a copy on amazon.

 Ehon The Artist and the Book in Japan

Amazon.ca - Amzon.com

If ever you are in Kingston or in the New York area, visiting the R&F store, their manufacture and studios is definitely worth the detour. For more information on the show and the press release, please visit the R&F website.