Wednesday, January 25, 2006
At rest in motion
Details
What: Recent works by Chantal Philipon-Cegede.
When: Through Sept. 24. Hours: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.
Admission: Free.
Where: Watercolors Gallery, 901A Penn Ave., Downtown.
Details: 412-201-4003 or .
Photo Gallery
'Tempest'
Tribune-Review
By Kurt Shaw
TRIBUNE-REVIEW ART CRITIC
Thursday, August 25, 2005
She has lived in Hong Kong, Egypt, South Africa and, of course, her native France. But no matter where Chantal Philipon-Cegede has lived, she has made art as a reflection of the place and mind-set she is in at the moment.
Currently Philipon-Cegede finds herself in Pittsburgh. More specifically, living in Upper St. Clair with her children and husband, a finance manager for a water-treatment company, with whom she moved to the area more than a year ago.
In the past year, as in years and places previous, she has made numerous mixed-media paintings of her interpretations of her surroundings. They are as broad as a wide-angle cityscape featuring a bitter cold Downtown skyline from a North Shore vantage point, and as intimate as the cardinals that nest in a forsythia bush in her back yard.
Works like this make up much of the 51 pieces in Philipon-Cegede's solo show "Places and Allegory" on view at Watercolors Gallery, Downtown, running through Sept. 24. Also included are several paintings she created while living in Florida, as well as a few she created while on vacation in various places.
One such work is "The Hat Box," a reflection of New Orleans. Here in squiggly line and splotchy paint she depicts a humble character wearing a new hat. At first blush, one may be reminded of the work of New Yorker magazine artists Ronald Searle and Jean-Jacques Sempe. But, to her credit, Philipon-Cegede moves beyond that. "The Hat Box," like all of her works, is not merely illustrative. Instead, it is a tour de force of line, color and texture -- a buildup of layers of watercolor, ink and acrylic that seem to rise above the paper surface with a certain nervous energy.
Like all of her works, that piece was not created as a literal, on-the-spot interpretation. Instead, Philipon-Cegede says, it, like all of her works, began with an idea that she may mull over for days, even weeks, before she puts pen and brush to paper.
"I create in my head," Philipon-Cegede says. "I never go directly to the paper. I always know in my head first what I will do."
For her, the idea is the most important aspect, as in the "The Path," which depicts a cat on the sill of an open window that frames a vibrant landscape of autumnal colors.
"It's a metaphor," Philipon-Cegede says. "It's a creation of a window. You have the autumn outside, a new season, and inside the old season, and the cat is ready to jump into the new season of autumn."
Though many of her works exist as pure poetic interpretations -- or "creations," as she calls them -- sometimes she takes the notion of poetry literally and includes her own writings within the works. The practice is similar to what Asian artists have done for centuries in sansui -- imaginary landscape painting. It's something Philipon-Cegede learned about while studying Chinese calligraphy and inks at the Hong-Kong Art Center in 1995.
For example, in "Raining Leafs," Philipon-Cegede has written at the paintings lower left border: "When the leaves willingly rain, listen to their song."
"These are raining leaves in Florida," Philipon-Cegede says about the piece. "In Florida, there is no autumn, no winter, but you see natural changes in color and the leaves do fall."
Not always a reflection of place, several of her works exist as pure allegory, utilizing female figures and other symbols as stand-ins for feminine qualities. Such is the case with "Timidity" in which a nondescript female figure folds in on herself. Similarly, in "Bodies," five dancing figures seem to meld. And in "Elixir," a colorfully costumed figure has apples for breasts.
"The apple is a symbol of femininity," Philipon-Cegede says in regard to that piece in which the figure has taken on the unmistakable shape of a perfume bottle.
In both "Bust and Lantern" and "Bust of Ebony," the artist depicts women with big bouffant hairdos that serve as bird cages in which birds are either held captive or fly away through an open door.
"I use the bird as an allegory," Philipon-Cegede says. "Whether it is inside or outside, it is free."
Whether it's the female figure, a landscape or a few birds depicted at sea -- such as in "Tempest," which is a comment on the Floridian hurricanes she remembers from living there -- in all of her works there is movement, agitation and action caused by flowing lines or jittery abstract patterns that are unfailingly gorgeous or august.
The effect of each piece is a silent blizzard of line and color. Creating a hectic spectacle that is strangely restful -- blitzing the optic nerve while courteously leaving other nerves alone. No doubt a reflection of someone who is both at rest and yet constantly on the move.
Kurt Shaw can be reached at .