Expositions à venir – Exhibitions are coming

Suite à mes tournées 2019 en Allemagne, Russie et Chine, je reviens exposer à Genève après plusieurs années d’absence. Intitulée  »Tout se dissout dans la lumière », cette exposition se tiendra à la galerie Russo-Yubero dans le quartier des Ports-Francs. Je me réjouis de partager avec mon public suisse mes nouvelles oeuvres 2020, qui sont monumentales et emblématiques de mon travail de réflexion sur l’écologie.  »Monte Rosa, Rendez-nous la beauté », en photo ci-dessus, est un appel à la beauté de nos paysages et à la prise de conscience de leur vulnérabilité face aux actions destructrices de l’Homme. Ces nouveaux tableaux évoquent également l’archi-puissance de ces éléments naturels, comme les montagnes et nos glaciers, et les dégâts que ces éléments peuvent entraîner lors de situation qui se gâtent naturellement ou du fait du dérèglement climatique.

Notre Terre est en mouvement permanent et en perpétuelle évolution comme nous, habitants de celle-ci. De ce fait, il est important de capter des instants privilégiés, comme une mémoire temporelle. Il est toujours dommage de gâcher ou de négliger des moments de grâce et de correspondance avec la nature en n’y prenant pas assez garde, pris dans le tourbillon du stress et de nos activités du quotidien. Le sujet est sur toutes les lèvres : agir pour l’avenir de notre humanité et la santé de notre planète terre.

Si nous n’agissons pas de manière concrète et cohérente dès maintenant, il y a de fortes chances que dans moins de 100 ans, nos glaciers suisses auront totalement disparus. Cependant, il est encore temps d’agir et de se mobiliser, ensemble, pour dire la vérité tout haut. Je pense profondément que l’art a le grand pouvoir de transmettre des messages forts. Mon combat et mes messages pour la cause de l’environnement continuent en 2020. Venez partager cette réflexion, réfléchir et ressentir des émotions nouvelles lors de mon exposition  »Tout se dissout dans la lumière ».

Ces nouvelles oeuvres sont à découvrir à Genève dès le 6 mars et jusqu’au 11 avril 2020. Le vernissage, ouvert au public, se tiendra le 5 mars à 18h00. Vous aurez également la chance de rencontrer le géologue Thierry Basset qui proposera un dialogue face à mes toiles le 12 mars. Enfin, le 2 avril, un concert In situ avec deux saxophonistes, Eric Ficher et Stefano Saccon, donnera la possibilité de s’immerger dans les oeuvres d’une façon inédite. A noter que le 6 avril, 4 toiles importantes quitteront l’exposition de Genève pour une grande exposition en Chine, qui débutera en milieu de mois.

Permettons-nous de rêver encore à cette beauté en voie de de nous être subtilisée.

Following my 2019 tours in Germany, Russia and China, I will return to exhibit in Geneva after several years of absence. This exhibition entitled  »Everything dissolves in the light » will be held at the Russo-Yubero gallery in the Ports-Francs district. It will be the occasion to reveal my new works 2020 to my Swiss public:  new monumental and emblematic works reflecting my thoughts about ecology.  »Monte Rosa, Give us back the beauty », first picture of the article, is a tribute to beauty of our landscapes and a warning about their vulnerability to the destructive actions of Humans. These new paintings also evoke the power of these natural elements, such as mountains and glaciers, and the damage these elements can cause in deteriorating conditions or climate-related disruption issues.

Our Earth is constantly moving and changing, just like us, Humans, are constantly changing. Therefore, it is important to capture special moments, such as a temporal memory. It is always a shame to waste or neglect moments of grace and correspondence with nature by not being careful enough, caught up in the whirlwind of stress and daily activities. The subject is on everyone’s lips: acting for the future of our humanity and the health of our planet earth !

If we don’t take concrete and consistent action now, there is a good chance that in less than 100 years our Swiss glaciers will have completely disappeared. However, there is still time to act and to get engaged, together, to tell the truth out loud. I deeply believe that art has the great power to convey strong messages. My fight and my messages for the cause of the environment will continue in 2020. Come and share this reflection, reflect and feel new emotions during my exhibition  »Everything dissolves in the light ».

These new works are to be discovered in Geneva from March 6 until April 11,2020. The vernissage is opend to public and will take place on March 5th at 6 pm. You will also have the chance to meet the geologist Thierry Basset who will propose a dialogue in front of my paintings on March 12th. Finally, on April 2nd, an In situ concert with two saxophonists will give you the opportunity to immerse yourself in my works in a new way. Note that on April 6, four important paintings will leave the Geneva exhibition for a major exhibition about my work in China, which will begin in the middle of the month.

Let’s allow ourselves to dream again of this beauty that is being stolen from us.

 

Bernard Garo.

8th Biennal of Contemporary Art at National Museum of China, Beijing 2019

 

‘’Fields of Geological Transition’’ presented at the National Museum of China in Beijing during the 8th Beijing International Art Biennale, China 2019.

This exhibition allowed him to meet the Chinese public again and to represent Switzerland abroad through his art. Bernard was fortunate to have his work exhibited in the Central Hall of the most prestigious National Art Museum of China. He was interview for severals locals programs. The event had more than 500,000 visitors. He does an important press conference for ecology at the symposium. Here a part of his speech :

 

 »I come from a very little country full of beautiful mountains, glaciers and lakes, like in the paradise.

Today we count 1400  glaciers but in less than hundred years, they might all disappear if nothing change with the climate evolution linked with human pollution.  What will happen, when we’ll have wasted our last drink water resources?

My lecture of the world is linked with the close environment in which I live.

I usually like to observe the elements, moving with the weather and the seasons.

I admire the beautiful color changes in different lights and moments of the day, on the lake and on the mountains, but always with the conscious of the great danger for who would go to brave them.

Today, I worry  for the future generations.

I have to confess, that I am shocked to see the quick evolution of the impact of the climate deregulation on my natural direct environment, increasing  the accidents in the mountains, because of unpredictable storms, avalanches, rocks falls, directly related with surprising erosion and unnatural heat, making melting the permafrost, creating torrents of mud pests.

The world will run to his ruin, If we do not all react together now, without differences between cultures and races.

The preservation of the beauty of our mother earth and its resources, is our main universal gift, and should be our principal actual preoccupation.

Contemporary Art is for that reason very important, because it can carry this hope, stimulate to think differently and  invite to move and make evolving some consciences. For that reason, I  try to make you feel in my  large scale paintings, my installations, videos and photographies,  our vulnerability in confrontation to the forces of the nature and it’s elements.

I  have analyzed the erosion all around the world but mainly in the Alps, the Ural and in China. I always search to observe the invisible movements and transformation of the colorful beauty of some treasures of the nature, with the time and also confronted to the human impact on it.

Also if my art is not only an image, it’s more a rhythm, a dynamic a structure, an energy, part of our unconscious natural human cultural heritage.

I do not care if I do photography, painting, an installation or a performance.

It should be an emotion out of any definition trial, a surprise, an innovation or a resistant act face to indifference.

It’s like a mirror of our society that concern firstly our memory, humanity environment, nature and changes.

I use only natural mineral sediments, asphalt or volcanic sand in my paintings, that I go taking by myself on cliffs or volcano craters, so that my art pieces take part in the history of the evolution of our earth.

It’s important for me, to open my field of perception by keeping always the unconsciousness perpetual movement and evolution in my mind, that concern as well how it was before and how it will be after a few millions of years.

To see  like this, through the elements, brings your art in an actuality and oblige you to stay sincere and create not only and aesthetic or decorative object, but a real strong piece of art with a deep philosophical meaning, and a touch of intense beauty with a lot of hope in its roots.

Art is an absolute that stimulate new solutions, more thoughts open to poetry and correspondences.

To be artists is to believe that you can participate in the changes of our world.

My art is born from this pure necessity, and I invite you to follow, by discovering my paintings and transversal conception of art, a poetic journey and reflexion, about the preservation of our beautiful nature and colorful world, and to dream at a better shared future trough the memory of our humanity to cultivate and trough concrete actions. »

Bernard Garo

 

 

 

5th Ural Industrial Biennal of Contemporary Art

Depts & Surfaces exhibition from 12th September to 10th November 2019 on the 5th Ural Industrial Biennal of Contemporary Art in Ekaterinburg, Russia.

This year, the biennal explores concepts of Immortality.

My project is based on an understandin g of two environments : Nature & Architecture through the processes of erosion and ruination.

The exhibition space are not always traditional sites but the main objects of the industrial culture of the city and the region : factories, production sites and monuments of constructivism. 

In addition to the main exhibition project, the Biennale offers visitors a rich educational program, attracting local museums and other institutions.

I present, an installation comprising an industrialized circle (picture) floating in space and developing the sensation of weightlessness through shadows and lights. Paper steles are on the sides of the work, which like evanescent imprints recall the surrounding nature.

Four main pieces of 196×196 cm will be presented during the event, among smaller works of 100x100cm. The official opening and press day will be on Wednesday September 11 at Sinara Center Art Gallery.

All the best, Bernard Garo

 

 

L’exposition ‘’Depts & Surfaces’’ du 12 septembre au 10 novembre 2019 se déroulera durant la 5ème Ural Industrial Biennale d’Art Contemporain à Ekaterinburg en Russie.

Cette année, la biennale explore les concepts de l’immortalité. 

Mon projet est basé sur la compréhension de deux élèments : La nature et l’architecture à travers le processus d’érosion et de ruine. 

Les sites d’expositions ne sont pas toujours classiques mais se trouvent dans des bâtiments industriels appartenant à la culture de la ville et de la région : Usines, sites de productions ou architecture constructiviste.

En supplément de l’exposition principale, la Biennale offre aux visiteurs, un riche programme éducatif, des musées locaux et autres institutions attractives.

Je présente, notamment, une installation spatiale comprenant un cercle industrialisé (photo) flottant dans l’espace et développant la sensation d’une apesanteur grâce aux ombres et à la lumières. Des stèles en papier se trouvent sur les côtés de l’oeuvre, qui comme des empreintes évanescentes rappellent la nature environnante de laquelle l’homme puise ses ressources mais qui à chaque fois reprend le dessus sur l’homme et son industrie à moins que nous brisions ce cycle.

Quatre pièces principales de 196×196 cm seront présentées durant l’événement, parmi de plus petites oeuvres de 100x100cm. La journée presse et le vernissage se tiendront le mercredi 11 septembre 2019 au Sinara Center Art Gallery.

Amicalement, Bernard Garo

NordArt 2019

After a fantastic and intense week of exhibition at the 2019’s NordArt art fair, I am back in the calmness of my studio, where I’d like to take a moment to share the experience with you.

For the 2^nd consecutive year I’ve been invited to exhibit my work at the prestigious NordArt annual art fair. Taking place in Hamburg, Germany, this event gathers contemporary artists from all continents in a 22’000 m² space where our art is given the space to resonate. Alongside 200 others artists, I was privileged to present my paintings in such an incredible setting and to represent my country as the only invited Swiss painter.

 

Above are my two monumental paintings and several pieces from other artists you could discover while wandering at NordArt. The place is vast, the light natural and the pieces from the different artists flow together. It’s a delight to walk around the exhibition and feel the mix of cultures and influences emerging of this place. What an incredible work of scenography from the curators.

Look at the crowd ! More than 5000 visitors were recorded. This is maybe what touched me the most. Art should not be restricted to a certain audience of experts, but to everybody ! Events like NordArt are exceptional because they too believe it and are working to showcase art as it should be. Once again, I’m thankful for being part of this year’s edition and I wish NordArd a bright future !

 

Best, Bernard Garo

A project I support: MonArt

ENG/ FR

Monart is an international Art selling platform of a new kind.
I am delighted to be part of the inner circle of this concept.

Designed as a complete ecosystem, engaged in artistic promotion and aiming at opening up the art market to all, Monart is betting on new technologies and the recent advances in cryptocurrencies by creating the first Blockchain based market place for artistic assets.

Monart won an ICO award at the Blockchain Day 2018 at the Paris Stock Exchange and has been quoted as a reference by the Forbes Magazine. It has gathered a team of experts in the fields of finance and art, which I’m a part of, to be recognized as a lead player and rejuvenate the art market in the digital era.

Thanks to my exhibitions in China and Switzerland, and thanks to my art books as well, I was among the first chosen artists of this project. I’ll be proudly representing Switzerland but also this innovating project as a whole as a promoter.

As an artist and thanks to my experience, I became a thrusted advisor, then a friend of the two co-founders: Pauline Houl (Beijin) and Malo Girod de L’ain (Paris).

Being nominated as a member of the Advisory Board and the selection committee, I’ll actively take part to the reflection and the strategic development of this platform.

Moreover, the Monart’s Swiss office is located in a space opened directly on my studio.

I invite you to visit MONART.ART to get familiar with this ambitious project and take part in the art market renewal.

Best, Bernard Garo

Monart est une plateforme de diffusion et de vente mondiale d’Art, d’un nouveau genre.
J’ai le plaisir de faire partie du premier cercle d’initiés de ce concept.

Conçue avant tout comme un écosystème complet, engagé dans la promotion artistique, visant à ouvrir le marché de l’art à tous, Monart mise sur les nouvelles technologies et le potentiel énorme offert par le développement récent des cryptomonnaies, en créant la première place de marché d’actifs artistiques, basée sur la technologie Blockchain.

Ayant remporté un ICO awards au Blockchain Day 2018 à la Bourse de Paris, cité en références dans la magazine Forbes, Monart s’est entouré d’experts des milieux financiers ainsi que du milieu artistique, dont je fais partie, pour réussir à s’imposer et venir renouveler le paysage du marché de l’art à l’heure du digital.

Suite à mes expositions muséales en Chine et en Suisse, ainsi qu’à mes livres d’art, j’ai été l’un des premiers artistes choisis, pour représenter la Suisse, mais aussi comme promoteur de cet innovant et beau projet.

En tant qu’artiste, ayant l’expérience du terrain, je suis devenu conseillé apprécié, puis ami des deux co-fondateurs; Pauline Houl (Pékin) et Malo Girod de L’ain (Paris).

Nommé membre de l’Advisory Board et de la commission de sélection, je participe aujourd’hui, avec conviction, à la réflexion et au développement stratégique de cette plateforme.

Par ailleurs le bureau Suisse de Monart est situé dans un espace adjacent, ouvert sur mon atelier.

Je vous invite à visiter MONART.ART pour en savoir plus sur cet ambitieux projet et prendre part au renouveau du marché de l’art !

Amicalement, Bernard Garo

Redefining the city with context, beyond the wall – Xi’an Art Museum (China)

This autumn I have the pleasure and opportunity to be exposed at the contemporary art exhibition « Redefining the city with context, beyond the wall » in the Xi’an Art Museum in China.

For this exhibition, I was invited to create and present a series of photographs on that specific theme. I extended a series started two years ago with new photographs made during my stay in China this summer.

This huge contemporary art exhibition is considered as the biggest made in Xi’an so far. The exhibition, made on multiple sites, including the Museum, invited 70 artists representative of the contemporary art from all over China, as well as foreign artists with big names in the domain of sculpture, installation and contemporary painting from Japan, Korea, Italy and among them, me.

The exhibition at the Xi’an Art Museum is large-scale. Critics and museum directors come from all over the world for this occasion. The exhibition organized in Xi’an is very important from the point of view of the representation with more than 70 artists invited and more than 5’000’000 followers.

It has been an unforgettable experience with beautiful encounters and exchanges that have enriched my perception of China and its contemporary creation.

Xi’an is the capital of Shaanxi Province with a population of 12 million inhabitants is one of the oldest cities in China. It is the starting point of the Silk Road and home of the Terracotta Army of Emperor Qin Shi Huang.

The exhibition is open until November 30th. Don’t miss it if your are in the region. It’s really impressive!

 

Visiting Xu Bin exhibition

On Saturday I went visiting the very interesting exhibition of Xu Bin, one of the greatest artists of China. This exhibition is 50 meters far away from my little studio situated just behind Faurchou fondation in the 798 neighbourhood. Simultaneously, I have a major exhibition in Germany (Hamburg) and my neighbor in the great space of the abordant exhibition is Xu Bin. What a nice coincidence.

Bernard Garo

Xu Bin exhibition

Xu Bin exhibition

Xu Bin exhibition

Xu Bin exhibition

Xu Bin exhibition

Bernard Garo is selected for international art exhibition NordArt 2018

Following the 7th Beijing International Art Biennale, Garo will again represent Switzerland at the major european contemporary art exhibition :  NordArt 2018 (Hamburg, DE), which will take place from 09.06.2018 to 07.10. 2018

NordArt is one of the largest annual contemporary art shows in Europe, featuring selected artworks by more than 200 artists from 105 countries around the world. Living from the different perspectives of individual cultures, the exhibition also makes it clear that East and West, South and North share many common hopes and dreams.

NordArt 2018 – official flyer

Since 1999, painting, sculpture, photography and installation works are exhibited at the former steel foundry Carlshütte, in Büdeldorf near Hamburg. Two Swiss artists were chosen this year, for the 20th anniversary celebration of this major exhibition: the Swiss German Sculptor Urs-Peter Twellmann and the Swiss French painter Bernard Garo.

Caldeira, Bernard Garo’s largest painting, measuing 261 cm x 636 cm, will be presented at NordArt this summer. This represent an exceptional opportunity for Garo’s artwork to be showcased on the international scene of contemporary art. 

Discover below the presentation of Caldeira painting at NordArt 2018 vernissage, accompanied by Peter Hinrichs.

You can follow Bernard Garo on Facebook and Instagram to discover more pictures of Caldeira and get the latest news from the artist !

Bernard Garo in front of Cladeira at NordArt 2018

Trois rencontres simultanées en Suisse autour de la peinture, de la photographie et des arts vivants

Dans mon dernier post, je vous présentais “La Disloquée”, une performance artistique et interdisciplinaire dans laquelle le Collectif de la Dernière Tangente continue sa réflexion, démesurée et poétique, sur la place de l’humanité au milieu des grands tumultes.

Ce spectacle s’inscrit dans une série de trois rencontres autour de la peinture, de la photographie et des arts vivants en Suisse, dans la ville de Nyon: d’une part, vous est proposée l’exposition de peinture Eléments, explorant la nature et sa vulnérabilité sur les matières telles que le papier ou le bois, et de l’autre vous pouvez découvrir l’exposition photographique Jardins Secrets où je révèle mon approche picturale de la nature et du corps. Ces deux expositions simultanées et totalement liées s’ajoutent et répondent à l’évènement de la Disloquée.

Ces 3 événement à Nyon réunissent toutes mes compétences et mes expérimentations récentes pour mettre en valeur et confronter le corps et le paysage par la peinture, la photo et d’autres supports,. Ouvrir une réflexion plus profonde au-delà de l’image, sur notre propre mémoire, notre identité, notre vulnérabilité, nos codes de fonctionnement sociaux et mesurer notre rapport à l’environnement. La beauté, l’émotion en sont les premiers moteurs. La pluralité permet de toucher différents angles d’une même démarche pour l’élever, par l’art, à une intensité plastique et une dimension sensible inégalée, la rendant à la fois plus accessible et plus perceptible, plus universelle au travers d’un langage commun et iconique. Celui-ci n’a plus besoin d’explications autres que notre propre interprétation, qui va bien au-delà de l’image et du visible. Une chance de pouvoir vous faire vivre cela en trois événements simultanés.

Bernard Garo

 

La Disloquée : du 26 au 28 avril 2018 à l’Usine à Gaz de Nyon, rue César Soulié 1, Nyon

Exposition Jardins Secrets, du 2 mars au 19 mai 2018, L’atelierphoto, Grand-Rue 13, Nyon

Exposition Eléments, du 8 mars au 5 mai 2018, Espace Murandaz, Chemin du Midi 8, Nyon

Vernissage au Plexus Palace Art Gallery

Un discours de présentation avec un catalogue offert aux spectateurs, voici l’accueil réservé aux invités dans l’aile Est du Montreux Palace à la Plexus Palace Art Gallery. Les invités ont pu admirer tout au long de la soirée des dessins délicats et une grande toile emblématique du Cervin exposée au centre de la salle. Pour un vendredi soir pluvieux et froid de novembre, il y régnait une agréable chaleur humaine et conviviale dans ce lieu où les spectateurs, touchés par l’accrochage subtil et tendu des œuvres, ont découvert pour la première fois un autre aspect du travail de Bernard Garo; le dessin et la vulnérabilité. Un travail sur papier vélin en petit format qui révèle la fragilité et la poésie du dessin au bambou, à l’encre de chine et brou de noix. L’artiste effleure de manière douce et différente, “l’intranquillité” des thèmes qu’il développe aussi dans son travail de grands formats. Il y paraîtrait même que cela fait 28 ans qu’on lui demande de présenter cette inspiration née des énergies de la terre qui ouvre finalement la voie aux grandes toiles.