French Artist Antoine Rameau Explores the Highs and Lows of Life

Description

Organised as a part of Le French May 2019, Rameau’s exhibition Life is a Journey features works from his a black ink painted collages series, as well as other, more colourful works.

The former works are strongly influenced by Asian art such as black Chinese ink painting and Japanese woodblock printing on paper (ukiyo-e). In many of his works, Rameau features patterns of circles, which is seen as a ‘symbol of perfection’ associated to the Moon or the Sun, the Ying and Yang.

According to Rameau, navigating life is similar to an ‘underwater cave diving journey’ during which you have to try trying to avoid obstacles, and come across both challenging stretches and scenic, easy routes. The key to a safe life journey is our own ability to be a careful and attentive pilot while navigating those two extremes. This metaphor is highlighted in Rameau’s work through his use of dark and light colours, as well as different textures.