ARTHUR DORVAL: FATA MORGANA.

Behind the beautiful title of Fata Morgana, Arthur Dorval's new series of paintings takes us back to the Arthurian legend and more precisely into the undulating world of the fairy Morgana. The term refers to the visions of sailors who believed they saw castles reflected in the mists on the expanse of the sea. Today it is the name of the optical phenomenon which results from a combination of mirages on the horizon. The works offer on a pure space, painted in flat monochrome, cubic shapes which are cut out, respond to each other and float as if levitating. These architectural silhouettes play between positive and negative as on the sea line which divides the sky and the sea. The masses pull each other, section themselves, double up, divide or multiply, but above all respond to each other like twin sisters in a clever play of mirrors. Arthur Dorval manipulates his simple geometric figures to give them volume and the illusion of the 3rd dimension through his skilful use of light. Its beautiful radiant pink, blue, green constructions, like chimeras, anchor themselves in memories and reassure through the play of their symmetries and their transparencies.