Current show at Roq la Rue

Current show at Roq la Rue

I should be painting, I know...

instead I am surfing about painting... which requires an even more highly tuned BS detector than surfing about scooters, politics, or even what the Freemasons are really up to...

So any way I happened upon this...

Jean-Pierre Roy's small urban scapes of destruction are stunning. They manage to be haunting, disturbing, and yet somehow lyrically beautiful.

Jean-Pierre Roy paints epic apocalyptic scenes seen from the air, featuring twisted metal, shattered landscapes, and decimated buildings. His style is almost photo realistic, with just enough surrealistic qualities to lend the paintings an almost science fiction feel. He meshes the grandeur and beauty of nature with the destructive nature of man upon the world and himself, attempting to create a pivotal moment in time that allows the viewer to engage with the ideas rather than recoil instinctively from images of destruction and war. However, even in the darkest wreckage are suggestions of enduring life, such as tiny flocks of birds or enigmatic and beckoning little lights.

I don't know about that, but I REALLY like these paintings. They are far more engaging then say a photograph or news footage of the same scene would be. Somehow how the palette, which does seem to nod towards Sci-Fi cover art of the 60's and 70's and could easily be described as otherworldly, somehow this surreal color scheme causes the viewer to grasp the reality of scene in a deeper way than would be possible with straight film.

But that's just me...

Above is Nothing Earthly Now. 12" x 36"

Below is The Road Towards Better Things. 12" x 12"