A number of exhibitions worth checking out arrive in Abu Dhabi over the next few weeks, but one artist in particular is worth your attention. Born in 1949 in Ponthaux, Switzerland, J-Marc Schwaller’s work is bold and vivacious, with luminous intensity that pulsates in front of the viewer. Until November, Mezzaluna at Emirates Palace is hosting The Rhythm of Earth – Passage, a series of paintings by J-Marc, most of which are named ‘Water Garden’.
J-Marc’s work finds its predecessors in abstract expressionists such as Russian Mark Rothko and American Barnett Newman. Much like their work, his paintings explore the compositional potential of colour and form on the human psyche. ‘What I seek is colour and light’, he says.
Like Mark Rothko, who tended to paint in blocks, your paintings tend to have sections, a right and a left, and then a middle section with greater depth, so that it seems to stretch out into a distant horizon.
As you mentioned, the verticals of left and right-hand side give a close up, and the opening in the middle gives the remote horizon. If one looks at the ‘Water Garden No 10’, the left shows bamboo and greenery which is in water. On the right, one finds sunnier elements of greenery. In the distance, one can see the mountain that I can see from my garden. And to give a greater dynamism to the painting, I painted the central part in diagonal to achieve the effect of landscape that is reflected in water. The ‘Water Garden No 4’ is more figurative. One can find on the left bamboo which is reflected, and on the right other bamboo and one cannot determine where water starts.
In that respect, ‘Water Garden No 2’ is rather different from the rest.
In this watercolour, I dropped the idea of the left plane to give the illusion of a big space with the representation of the sea. On the right you can see bamboo, and in the central space blue brush strokes and oranges which are reflected in the water.
In this series you’ve turned concrete subjects, like something in your garden, into abstract compositions of only colour and light? Have you always painted this way?
When I was younger, I worked on subjects like mountains, femininity, bodies and cathedrals. I’ve also had a series on Lords of the War – or Samurai, as the Japanese call them. These I exhibited at the first Beijing International Art Biennial in China. For me, work is very concrete. I have also very personal titles for each one of my artworks. For the colour and the light, I let myself lead by the colour, the intensity, the emotion and I move away from the realistic image. I need to create a new image which the spectator can interpret freely.
You get a lot of inspiration from your garden? Can you tell us what else inspires you?
The inspiration from my garden is rather recent. With my family I live in an area with ponds, bamboo in the garden, flowers and plants and even a small forest. We created a place which enables me to be insulated and to work within a protected framework. This can be compared with Monet and his Garden of Giverny or the workshop of Bacon, which he often did not leave. It is the search for a place which is favourable with creation. I work in a very white workshop, without images. My inspiration, I seek it mainly through voyages.
What do you want viewers to take away from your work?
I cannot answer for the spectator. I’d like to quote Picasso here: ‘The inspiration exists. A table lives only by that who looks at it.’
The Rhythm of Earth – Passage runs until 20 November 2012 at Mezzaluna, Emirates Palace. Viewings are available daily but by appointment only, unless you’re dining at Mezzaluna. Contact Kurt Blum at Swiss Art Gate UAE kblum@swissartgateuae.com (050 225 1783).
