On Friday 28th October at 7pm, Oink Gallery will be introducing Jean-Luc Almond and his emotive Victorian inspired portraits with his first solo exhibition at the gallery in Old Town, Swindon.
His heavily layered oil paintings play with the memory of lost times, the tension between light and dark and the materiality and texture of paint itself.
Mark Pepperall, Oink director and curator, says: "We would love to welcome you to see this exciting new collection and meet the artist at our Preview Night. A bar and deejays will help make it a great event!"
Jean-Luc’s highly textured oil paintings have a tangible, sculptural quality. Embracing the transformations that occur when not enslaved to the subject matter, he becomes obsessed with the materiality and texture of the paint itself. A tension forms within the thick surfaces as paint takes precedence over representation, and a deeper psychological and emotional presence is unearthed.
He meticulously constructs a portrait using multiple layers of oil before masking, erasing, and blurring features through bold impasto marks, scratching, and peeling.
Traces of its history are exposed – an apparition or fading memory of what’s beneath. Jean-Luc’s Dark Head paintings play with light and darkness. Ambiguous subjects emerge from – or disappear into – the shadows, hints of concealed features are illuminated, and the viewer is enticed to search deeper.
Among Jean-Luc’s influences is Victorian photography. His paintings are constructed through the processes of creation and destruction, damage and repair.
www.oinkgallery.co.uk