A Line Is a Line Is a Line by Francis Limerat
March 1, 2019 – March 20, 2019 at Akar Prakar, Delhi
Somewhere between the domain of painting and sculpture, Francis Limérat has touched an artistic approach which could be defined as a hybrid of both worlds. For more than four decades, his works have been pervaded and nurtured by the history of the twentieth century avant-garde as they disrupt painting; its planarity, as well as sculpture and its assumed monolithic identity.
Justifiably termed Space Drawings, Limérat’s works may hang on the wall very much like paintings but the few inches distance that is maintained from the wall allows for the shadows to reflect, guiding the viewer into a physical space of reality, contrary to the virtual one offered by a painting. The void acts as a transition between the plane of the wall and the work, thus consuming the illusion of perspective and bringing the eyes into a collusive interrogation.
These linear structures are made of thin painted wooden-sticks composed in random charts, largely orthogonal. The formal strategy at play generates the duality of the surface and the line, of the void and the plane, of the plane and the elevation, of the construction and the deconstruction, of the light and the shadow and indeed, of the order and the fantasy.
A combination of fragile sensitivity and rational geometry.
A line is a line, is a line, is a line…
Francis Limerat | AFL Series - 1 | Ink on paper | 13 x 17 in | 2019
Francis Limerat | AFL Series - 2 | Ink on paper | 13 x 17 in | 2019
Francis Limerat | AFL Series - 3 | Ink on paper | 13 x 17 in | 2019
Francis Limerat | AFL Series - 4 | Ink on paper | 22 x 16 in | 2019
Francis Limerat | AFL Series - 5 | Ink on paper | 22.5 x 16 in | 2019
Francis Limerat | AFL Series - 6 | Ink on paper | 22.5 x 22.5 in | 2019
Francis Limerat | AFL Series - 7 | Ink on paper | 21 x 29 in | 2019
Francis Limerat | AFL Series - 8 | Ink on paper | 22.5 x 22.5 in | 2019
Francis Limerat | Almaren | Stained Wood | 59 x 59 in | 2017
Francis Limerat | Ehadena | Stained Wood | 40 x 40 in | 2018
Francis Limerat | Emothol | Stained Wood | 20 x 20 in | 2019
Francis Limerat | Forogund | Stained Wood | 59 x 59 in | 2016
Francis Limerat | liiving | Stained Wood | 40 x 40 in | 2018
Francis Limerat | Imashkar | Stained Wood | 40 x 40 in | 2017
Francis Limerat | Lassime Series 1 | Stained Wood | 40 x 40 in | 2016
Francis Limerat | Lassime Series 2 | Stained Wood | 40 x 40 in | 2016
Francis Limerat | Murandy | Stained Wood | 40 x 40 in | 2017
Francis Limerat | Osapus | Stained Wood | 20 x 20 in | 2019
Francis Limerat | Qiwood | Stained Wood | 20 x 20 in | 2019
Francis Limerat | Upradon | Stained Wood | 20 x 20 in | 2019
Francis Limerat | Uqbar | Stained Wood | 59 x 59 in | 2017
Francis Limerat | Incipit Series | Stained Bamboo | 10 x 13 in | 2018
Francis Limerat | Incipit Series | Stained Bamboo | 11 x 19 in | 2018
Francis Limerat | Incipit Series | Stained Bamboo | 11 x 11 in | 2018
Francis Limerat | Incipit Series | Stained Bamboo | 9.5 x 15 in | 2018
Francis Limerat | Incipit Series | Stained Bamboo | 10 x 8 in | 2018
Francis Limerat | Incipit Series | Stained Bamboo | 14 x 7 in | 2018
Francis Limerat | Incipit Series | Stained Bamboo | 11 x 8 in | 2018
Francis Limerat | Incipit Series | Stained Bamboo | 10 x 13.5 in | 2018
Francis Limerat | Incipit Series | Stained Bamboo | 11.5 x 8.5 in | 2018
Francis Limerat | Incipit Series | Stained Bamboo | 14 x 14 in | 2018
Francis Limerat | Incipit Series | Stained Bamboo | 14 x 14 in | 2018
Francis Limerat | Incipit Series | Stained Bamboo | 15 x 15 in | 2018
Francis Limerat | Incipit Series | Stained Bamboo | 6 x 15 in | 2018
Francis Limerat | Incipit Series | Stained Bamboo | 9 x 9 in | 2018
Francis Limerat | Untitled | Drawing | 10.75 x 7 in | 2014
Francis Limerat | Untitled | Drawing | 10.75 x 7 in | 2014
About Francis Limerat
Francis Limérat (b. 1 August 1946, in Alger) was a teacher at the Regional School of Fine Arts in Angers. In the last forty years or more he has concentrated on two fields, drawing and building linear and light structures made of painted wood to be hung against walls so that the reflection of their shadows become part of the work itself. His approach is deeply rooted in the 1970’s art school of thought, when making the best use of rationed items was a priority.
His practice has sustained originality by gradually evolving over the course of forty years. The materials and techniques have both matured- pieces of oblong wood of various sizes, often painted, layered or stuck like repetitive modules assembled together in a certain order or disorder; sheet of paper, black ink or sepia worked with a feather or as a tint. This approach allows him to alternate spatial constructions as drawings, playing with the tension between empty and full; and between absences that distribute light, presented as signs. Interestingly, Limerat is both a carpenter and a gardener who invites the viewer to follow visual tracks as if he is taking them on an imaginary journey. The structures provide different options to wander about or to rest or bury
His art has been represented in several galleries in France, Germany, Canada, South Korea, Japan, USA, Switzerland, etc. F. Limérat has participated in many solo and group exhibitions and he has also shown at Akar Prakar, Kolkata in 2015. The artist lives and works in Paris as well as the Bordeaux region.