ART CITIES:Geneva-Stéphane Dafflon
Through the visual assemblage of painting, sculpture, object and architecture, Stéphane Dafflon’s work portrays an original and radical vision of abstract painting, painting in the broad sense, conceived beyond media deemed as traditional such as a canvas and its frame to instigate a spatial and colourful conversation positioning the viewer at the heart of a veritable pictorial arrangement.
By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Xippas Gallery Archive
Stéphane Dafflon’s works have generic forms and coded titled – e.g. AST for “acrylique sur toile” (acrylic on canvas), PM for “peintures murales” (wall paintings), all numbered in chronological order). In Stéphane Dafflon’s solo exhibition “Magic Eye” at both spaces of Galerie Xippas in Geneva, the paintings seem simple and minimalist at first, but attest to his strong pictorial skills. Initially designed on a computer screen and then copied out onto a canvas or wall, his paintings bear the markings of art history while cementing themselves as works with graphic design influences. They display smooth geometric shapes blended together in a variety of colors. In this exhibition the colors of the works are limited to blue, red, yellow and black, reminiscent of the CMYK model (cyan, magenta, yellow and black) used in digital printing techniques. Stéphane Dafflon’s non-figurative formal vocabulary conjoins in equal measures the influences of Minimal Art and Neo Geo while simultaneously evidencing playful references to geometric abstraction. A universal repertoire of signs and codes derived from the realm of contemporary visual culture, computer graphics as well as architecturally and spatially related issues condense within the work of the artist. The title “Magic Eye” introduces the artistic questions that Stéphane Dafflon puts to the viewer in this exhibition. It refers to a book series of the same name published by N.E. Thing Enterprises. The books feature autostereograms, 2D illustrations that magically morph when focusing the eyes, the brain perceives them as 3D scenes. The starting pattern is a basic grid composed of four rectangles, each one with its own hue. The grid becomes a check pattern through a repetition effect achieved by copy and paste. From this grid, every check, diamond, spiral and column pattern comes to life. Patterns and colors echo each other from one canvas to another, then evolve in their own unique way to form a distinctive pattern, a basic abstraction constructed like a unique visual symbol. As Olivier Mosset says, “Like Francis Baudevin (who was his teacher at Ecal in Lausanne), Stéphane Dafflon shifts from graphic design to painting, his paintings and generic objects are constantly making reference to the world of information. They are allegories of this technological and computer age that is ours and his”. Stéphane Dafflon has also been creating abstract sculptural works for several years, not restricting himself to paint. Different materials such as wood, translucent Plexiglas and stainless steel are used to produce these three-dimensional works. Painted or shimmering, these 3D objects echo the shapes of the paintings hung on the walls causing reflections, interacting with the surroundings and opening the space out to unexpected perspectives.
Info: Galerie Xippas, Rue des Sablons, Geneva & Rue des Bains 61, Geneva, Duration: 13/9-3/11/18, Days & Hours: Tue-Fri 14:00-18:30, sat 12:00-17:00, www.xippas.com
.