Paris
Almine Rech Gallery
20 Nov → 9 Jan 2021
From Tuesday to Saturday 11 am to 7 pm. Closed Sunday and Monday.
The word "psychogeography", a term borrowed from Guy Debord, refers to a science invented in the 1950s to "analyse and reinvent the development of the planned urban environment and its relationship to human behaviour and the emotions of individuals". For Gerasimos Floretos, the world around us has a powerful impact on our sensations, emotions and feelings. Psycho-geography allows him to record all this according to where people are through his creations. This exhibition is a collection of the Greek-American artist's production made during the first confinement: oil paintings, drawings and collages on canvas were executed on the floor during the night. Gerasimos Floretos lives and works in Times Square and his studio is located below the Deli run by his parents. Thus, he is unaware of the outside world, which he can observe through the basement window wells of his studio. This has a great influence on his work, which is always on the borderline between the intimate and the outside. The work that opens the exhibition, Treehouse, perfectly illustrates this work: two characters with big eyes (too big?) are looking at us; an irregular strip of white paint spotted with several colours is at the bottom of the canvas; as for the top of it, it is a colour photocopy of the screens in Times Square that covers it. Thus, the two main elements of the artist's life are represented: his studio in the basement and the city swarming above it. This is a recurring motif throughout his work. He maps the spaces and the people occupying them. For this exhibition, it is these two big-eyed characters who are the protagonists! Gerasimos Floretos is a self-taught artist who has been able to create a world of his own, far from any form of academicism. It's up to you to discover it!