Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris
Galerie Chantal Crousel is pleased to present Phasma, the eighth solo exhibition of Spanish artist José María Sicilia, from January 27th to March 3rd, 2018.
For the first time in France, the artist shows a series of works entitled La Locura del ver (The Madness of seeing / 2015-2016). These abstract paintings mixing colorful shapes translating birdsongs with silk embroideries. The latter are interpretations of Thomas Young’s 1801 scientific experiments of interferences, determining the wave nature of light in 1801.
Simultaneously, the artist also presents Phasma (2017), a series of new drawings and poems, created in Japan these last few months, and dealing with the feeling of suicide, life struggle and ephemerality.
José María Sicilia, Phasma, cotton paper, watercolor and graphite pencil, 51 x 36 cm — © José María Sicilia
何塞·玛利亚·西西利亚，“Phasma”，绵纸、水彩和石墨铅笔，51 x 36 cm，版权归艺术家所有
About the artist
José Maria Sicilia
Born in 1954 in Madrid, Spain.
José María Sicilia has devoted much of his career to question immaterial space between art and life, Eros and Thanatos. In his works, Sicilia uses varnish, wax, silk, and plays constantly on the effects of transparency. Beyond their immediate and disturbing beauty, the works of José Maria Sicilia transpose us in frontier territories, where the familiar is made strange and where memory is put into abyss.
José María Sicilia’s works has been shown in several important solo exhibitions around the world such as the Musée du Louvre, Paris (2004) ; Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum (2008); Amos Anderson Art Museum, Helsinki (2010); Maison Erasme, Brussels (2010); Santa Caridad, Sevilla (2012); Fukushima Prefectural Museum of Art (2013); Matadero, Madrid (2013); Palacete del Embarcadero, Santander (2014); Musée Delacroix, Paris (2015); Calcografía Nacional, Madrid (2016); Museo Casa de la Moneda, Madrid (2017). Since 2011, he has organized many workshops in Tohoku’s region in Japan (in partnership with Reconstruction Agency and I’m Group), and especially at Iwate, Myagi and Fukushima.
His work is also part of international museum’s collections such as Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid; MoMA, New York ; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York ; Centre Pompidou, Paris ; CAPC, Bordeaux ; M+ collection, Hong Kong ; MAC’S, Grand-Hornu ; Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Torino; Caixa Contemporary Art Collection, Barcelona ; Collection Banco de España, Madrid ; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.
