Behind every great work of art is a story — a splatter of paint placed by a hovering brush or a stroke of charcoal smeared by a foot midstep in a dance.
Simard Bilodeau Contemporary’s newest exhibit, “Translations,” explores these moments through the works of international contemporary artists Heather Chontos, Caroline Denervaud and Emma Larsson. The exhibition at the Downtown gallery runs through Saturday, Dec. 16.
Although their methods vary, all three artists begin creating in the same state: pure freedom. “None of them start with an idea in mind of what they will do. They’re all very intuitive in their process. It’s based on instinct — nothing is intellectualized,” explained Eve-Marie Bilodeau, owner and curator at Simard Bilodeau Contemporary.
“Translations”
WHEN: Various times through Saturday, Dec. 16
WHERE: Simard Bilodeau Contemporary, 1923 S. Santa Fe Avenue, Suite 300, Los Angeles
COST: Free
INFO: www.simardbilodeau.com
“They all work very freely.” The resulting works are bold multi-medium abstractions teeming with color.
Bilodeau, who has represented all three artists for several years, felt that the trio would make a cohesive group show, highlighting each artist’s creative differences as much as their similarities and fulfilling her aims of representing women artists.
“I wanted to show them side by side; that’s when you really see the differences in the approach,” she explained. “Even though the artists work well together, and there are some similarities, they’re all very different.”
Indeed, Larsson, a Swedish artist working in Stockholm, finds most of her inspiration through nature’s shapes, colors and patterns. Her time spent in the woods informs her colorful paintings, which abound with dynamic, organic forms reminiscent of “plants, human organs or underwater species,” Bilodeau said.
Her four paintings in the show are rife with texture. Layered with sand and paper, her paintings are “very alive,” Bilodeau explained. “Her paintings feel like they’re in constant movement — like a moment in a process that was seized onto the canvas.”
Larsson’s work has been featured in WePresent, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue and Harper’s Magazine, and she has collaborated with global brands like COS, H&M, SOHO House London and Rachel Comey.
Chontos, who lives and works in Portugal, was born in New York to an antique collector and a carpenter, who fed her fascination with objects and working with one’s hands from a young age. Her early influences became a driving force behind her later artistic focuses: art conservation, illustration, set design, prop making, product styling and multimedia art.
Visually, her three pieces in the show differ, ranging from more earthy tones to bright colors. She created a smaller work for the exhibition made from a painting she purchased at a garage sale, giving it a second life and reclaiming a piece that otherwise may have been lost.
Inspired by various mediums and spaces, Chontos’ work is bold and dynamic, with an intensity that reflects a holistic and full-bodied approach to painting. Her art has taken her across the globe to places like Barcelona, Copenhagen, Berlin, Italy, Paris, New York and Los Angeles, and has been featured in Bazaar, British Vogue and Côté Sud.
Similarly, Denervaud’s background plays a significant role in her creation process. Originally trained as a dancer, Denervaud suffered an injury that left her unable to dance professionally, so she turned to art. Her love of dance is essential to her paintings, which start as fluid movements across the canvas. To create her paintings, Denervaud lays down her starting medium, like charcoal or paint, on a canvas and dances in silence to create the skeleton of her painting.
Her process is as much as the art as the piece itself. The exhibition features three of Denervaud’s paintings along with a video of her artistic process. “(The video) is a different perspective and really supports the work,” Bilodeau said. “It makes you feel like you’re part of it almost.”
Her work is part of art collections throughout America and Europe and has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions. In November 2022, she had her first solo exhibition in the United States at Simard Bilodeau Contemporary.
Bilodeau explained that all three artists collaborated on the show’s title, which serves as a metaphor for the abstract, where “nothing is clearly said but mostly felt” and translated into a visual representation.
