November 25, 2012

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




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.




October 19, 2012

Solo show : Galerie de Bellefeuille

Alexandre Masino
Lumières


Galerie de Bellefeuille

October 20 - 30, 2012
Vernissage : October 20, 2012, 2 - 4:30 pm


Deux grandes lumière (Bijutsu), 2012
Encaustic, gold
leaf and cupper leaf on panel
28” x 36” / 71 x 91.5 cm


I am pleased to announce my solo show at Galerie de Bellefeuille. This wide ranging exhibition presents most of my actual series and introduces new avenues in my practice. For the first time, I will be showing an encaustic retable, displaying a landscape on the front and a triptych of still lifes once it is opened. This piece obviously embodies my interest and passion for art history. On a technical point of view, it was a challenge to design, produce and paint. I finished the piece just in time to include it in the catalogue. I have a second one in the making, and I am looking forward to tackling it. The multiplicity of images allows me to creates dialogues between different series and create new meanings and diverse interpretations in the relation between the iconography.


Le temple secret, 2012
Encaustic on panel
48.5” x 32.5” / 123 x 82.5 cm - Close

 
 Le temple secret, 2012
Encaustic and gold leaf on panel
48.5” x 65.5” / 123 x 166 cm - Open


The show includes encaustic paintings on panels as well as encaustic monotypes. It is my first solo show where I am presenting these two techniques side by side. The result from these two approaches nourrish one another, underlying the specificities of each use of the encaustic medium while still being closely related. 


 Cette marée de pierre III, 2012
Encaustic monotype on Gampi paper
23” x 34.5” / 58 x 88 cm


If you are interested in seeing some paintings of the show, please visit the gallery’s website (click here). I will also be updating my personal website in the coming weeks, with images of the show and Jean-Marc Desgent’s poignant essay that is published in the catalog. I’ll keep you posted...



Cover of the catalog Lumières, 2012
32 pages - 25 colour images, Published by Galerie de Bellefeuille
The catalogue is dedicated to Tom Hopkins' memory



1367 Greene Avenue
Montréal, Québec, H3Z 2A8
 
Tel: 514.933.4406
 
Opening Hours
Monday to Friday from 10am to 18pm
Saturday from 10am to 18pm
Sunday from 12pm to 17h30pm



Présence, 2012
Encaustic on panel
26” x 36” / 66 x 91.5 cm




October 1, 2012

Concept Art Gallery

Concept Art Gallery in Pittsburgh is celebrating it’s 40th anniversary!  I am thrilled and honored to be part of this vibrant and pivotal institution, so it is with much pleasure that I take the time to mention their current exhibition Curator’s Choice: Celebrating 40 Years of Concept Art Gallery.




Alexandre Masino
Cette marée de pierre II, 2012
Encaustic monotype on Kozuke paper
34.5" x 23"


I have spent the last months in a creative frenzy, working intensively in the studio for different upcoming solo shows and the production of a new catalogue. I will talk about these projects in upcoming posts, but for those who were wondering about my long silence from my blog, that basically explains it.

What I did besides painting and focusing on new series, is to send a large group of encaustic monotypes to Concept Art Gallery. They now have more of them than any other gallery. If you are in the Pittsburgh area and are interested by monotypes, you may want to visit the gallery, they truly have an amazing space and they represents great artists.


Alexandre Masino
Les courants du réel II, 2012
Encaustic monotype on Gampi paper
34.5" x 23"
 
 
Concept Art Gallery
1031 South Braddock Avenue

Pittsburgh, PA 15218

412-242-9200

April 4, 2012

Encaustic Monotype : Group Show


Hot Off the Press:

New Encaustic Printmaking



R&F Gallery

April 7th, 2012 – May 19th, 2012

Vernissage : April 7th – 5:00 to 7:00 pm




Alexandre Masino
À l'orée des monts III, 2012
Encaustic monotype on Gampi paper
23" x 34.5"



David A. Clark is curating a group show on encaustic monotype at the R&F Gallery in Kingston, New York. The selected artists will be presenting a wide variety of works exploring this technique which has been drawing an increasing amount of attention in the United States over the last years. It was a pleasure to create a new series of large mountainscape prints for this occasion. I look forward to attending the opening and seeing all the works in the flesh. Encaustic monotypes can be so rich and subtle that it is worth seeing them in person to truly appreciate them.




Alexandre Masino
Entre source et nuage I, 2012
Encaustic monotype on Masa paper
23" x 34.5"


The group show includes the following artists:


David A. Clark



Diana Gonzalez Gandolfi



Jane Guthridge



Kathleen Lemoine



George Mason




Paula Roland



To read the gallery’s press release please click here.


I am taking this opportunity to quickly announce that I will be giving a three day workshop on encaustic painitng and monotype at R&F next Autumn in parallel to presenting a solo show. I’ll write a longer post on the workshop in the coming weeks but if you want to read about it, please click here.




Cette marée de pierre I, 2012
Encaustic monotype on Gampi paper 34.5" x 23"



R&F Gallery


84 Ten Broeck Ave

Kingston, New York

(800) 206-8088 or (845) 331-3112




April 3, 2012

Yechel Gagnon : Public Art

Tong, 2011
Cast aluminium, 247" x 107"

Théâtre la Licorne, Montréal
Photo : Marc Cramer



Yechel Gagnon's Public Art Project @ Théâtre La Licorne
4559, Avenue Papineau, Montréal, Québec

Architects :
FABG



Yechel Gagnon, Tong, 2011
Cast aluminium, 247" x 107"
Photo : Marc Cramer


Yechel Gagnon created Tong, a large cast aluminium mural for the Licorne Theatre in Montreal. For the first time, she transposes her visual language within the realm of metal work. Gagnon created organic forms evoking movement and fluidity in dialogue with the dense and solid medium and city environment.

The title of the mural Tong, is a Chinese term meaning Together which alludes to the noted adage “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”. This is undoubtedly an apt concept to associate with the Art of theatre. Indeed, a theatre play requires a strong collective effort to produce and it is as a group that we experience it as spectators.



Yechel Gagnon, Tong (detail), 2011
Photo : Marc Cramer


Creating public art projects triggers many new avenues in Yechel Gagnon’s production. For the Licorne Theatre, Gagnon had to question materiality in an entirely new way in order to create a work that would sustain the harsh exterior conditions. After an extensive research period of experimenting with numerous materials, she found a technique to transfer her visual language, usually associated with plywood bas-reliefs, into cast aluminium, adding yet another layer of complexity to her practice.


To read a great review of this installation published on Yatzer click here.



Yechel Gagnon, Tong (detail), 2011
Photo : Marc Cramer


Yechel Gagnon, Tong (detail), 2011
Photo : Marc Cramer


Yechel Gagnon, Tong (detail), 2011
Photo : Marc Cramer


Yechel Gagnon, Tong (detail), 2011
Photo : Marc Cramer

March 17, 2012

Encaustic & gold leaf



Alexandre Masino
Offrandes (Bijutsu), 2011
Encaustic and gold leaf on panel
28" x 36"




Alexandre Masino
Le sacré du profane (Bijutsu), 2011
Encaustic and gold leaf on panel
28" x 36"