Loïc Gesnouin : The Art of the Fugue

All movement is a succession of snapshots and fugitive moments. All movement feeds on that which is ephemeral and which a lens can capture, freeze and destroy forever. Only the artist has the vocation to translate it: and even then he needs to know the chemistry for transforming the temporal unit into distance and potential energy, and accept the distortions and denials of reality to better express the life and immateriality that is imprinted on our senses and memory. Eye and hand therefore become the actors of a transcendental transcription.

Loïc Gesnouin's passion and dynamism complete the process. Much room is left for memories, sensations and the imagination. He thereby begins an initiatory journey in quest of what is essential and absolute; an objective and ideal that require freedom and spontaneity.

The artist's subconscious enters into play with the image, of which only an expressionistic trace is kept. This suggestion is in turn backlit by his own chromatic and intellectual resonance that he unknowingly discovers within the vibrations of his canvas.

The ephemeral quality of the instant vanishes in a fugue whose key is known by Loïc Gesnouin alone. It does not matter! Whether in C or D, it carries us off into his world of dream and poetry.

Bernard Tréhet - President of Honour
Normandie Terre des Arts

What fine painting this is! Loïc GESNOUIN's pieces are wholly steeped in appeal and emotion. And that is indeed true recognition of the talent of an artist who, as non-formal as he may be in his choice of style, moves and enthralls us with his manner and technique. He conveys hosts of effects, dreams, and imaginary worlds as his mood and inspiration take him.

Although still a young painter (but does one not remain a young painter up to one's dying breath?), Loïc Gesnouin has a solid experience in pictorial technique, and his mastery of the use of masses, colours and light gives him the freedom to work as he pleases, overturning the usual points of reference to better direct the observer, leading him and ultimately winning him over.

The material is superb, the brushstroke true to the artist's spirit, and the rhythm powerfully established through the creation of effects of light. Compositions range from quasi-romantic pieces with bold lyrics, to limpid evocations made of clear monochromes. These possess an elegance that is as generous as the warm and more active harmonies found in his mysterious songs, all of which are born of an exemplary palette.

André RUELLAN, Art Critic
www.art-culture-france.com

Dazzling bursts of light risen from an almost unreal world...

What Loïc GESNOUIN's paintings evoke is the supreme power of life. We can sense him with the knife, paintbrushes, paint and even his hand, kneading the material with a sensual and creative delight.

Characters gradually emerge from the halo of light that seeks to absorb them, and are propelled, in one irresistible movement, against the lyrical rhythms of the "concerto-grosso", attaining their fullness in the orchestra's "tutti"... These black silhouettes, attributed with either a violin or double bass, accordion or saxophone, trombone or cello, blend into the pathétique roar of the symphonic ensemble which, in red or in blue, sings of all that makes up art: hope and despair, joy and pain, love and passion...

Loïc Gesnouin's artistic breath is that of a painter, musician, and poet all at once. Each work is, of course, a universe in itself, but which also constitutes a link in a pictorial writing that expresses a profound, moving and sincere sensitivity.

J. Bazire, 10th November 1999