Paysage, 2023

Thierry Bronchart  

Thierry Bronchart approaches landscape painting with an unusual and critical eye. His paintings operate on several levels. At first glance, he treats the landscape genre by painting bucolic scenes using traditional oil techniques. But in the foreground, he places volumes that dominate the composition. They seem to disrupt the landscape, even though their presence stems from observation of reality. Most are enveloped in plastic in jarring, garish tones, contrasting sharply with the verdant gradations of nature.

These geometric volumes invite a dual interpretation: one conceptual, asserting an ultra-contemporary pictorial stance. The forms, placed in the foreground, are assertive both in their monumental aspect and in the flat color treatment reminiscent of Pop Art and American Hyperrealism—artistic movements that, in their time, were critical of our consumerist lifestyle. The skillful acrylic treatment of the volumes, contrasted with the oil-painted landscape background, reinforces a kind of formal triumphalism over the rest of the scene, thus presenting an allegorical illustration of environmental issues.

The sculptures possess a strangely joyful quality thanks to their vibrant colors, which act as enticing added value, yet highlight the usual pollutants of our agricultural landscapes: plastics, tires, and other non-perishable materials. Other canvases even sound the alarm about climate change, such as glaciers covered in protective tarpaulins, forming landscape compositions haunted by an intractable evil.