PRESENTATION: Nathalie Du Pasquier-Le Corbeau Et Le Renard

Nathalie Du Pasquier worked as a designer as part of the Memphis Group until 1987, producing patterns, textiles, decorated surfaces, and furniture. Since then, her main focus and passion has been painting. Over the past thirty-five years, Du Pasquier has been intrigued by the relationship between objects and the spaces in which they are installed. This ongoing investigation has manifested in paintings, sculptures, designs, patterns, constructions, carpets, books, and ceramics, constantly acting between the representational and non-representational, the tangible and intangible, reality and imagination, and two- and three-dimensional forms.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Pace Gallery Archive

An expanded painter working between formats, Nathalie Du Pasquier is open to new possibilities and experimentation, continuously playing with complex arrangements of forms. For a long period, she produced still life paintings following a precise methodology in combination with pure intuition: building sets with different elements, day-to-day objects first, handmade wood constructions later, and meticulously representing what was in front of her. Du Pasquier now works directly on paper or canvas, and builds constructions that play with the juxtaposition of flat surfaces and three-dimensional objects. Her paintings can respectively exist as objects, space, or environments, blurring the distinctions between a work and its inherent structures of display. The exhibition “Le Corbeau Et Le Renard”, marks Nathalie Du Pasquier’s first show in the UK for more than five years. Du Pasquier presents a suite of new paintings and constructions in her signature visual lexicon of vivid colors and modular forms. Expanding the language of her paintings onto the walls and into the center of the gallery space, Du Pasquier’s distinctive approach to art making is immersive and deeply stimulating. At the core of the artist’s practice is an exploration of form, color, and space through subversive and unexpected means. Firmly centred in the practice of painting, her work draws inspiration from a myriad of visual sources that range from the Italian Metaphysical painters, to modernist architecture, furniture, and functional objects. Du Pasquier conceives her exhibitions as a total work of art, painting the walls with a bespoke design that activates the gallery space and constructs a visual rhythm through which dynamic dialogues between painting and object are formed. This all-encompassing conception of an exhibition speaks not only to the relationships between objects, but also the viewer’s place within the space. Displayed in the centre of the gallery, Du Pasquier’s wooden constructions represent a very recent development in her practice, bringing her paintings into three-dimensions to be seen from multiple vantage points. Akin to the renowned architectural installations displayed in recent major exhibitions at the Le Corbusier designed Villa Savoye in Poissy, France, the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, France, and the MACRO in Rome, Italy, these painted wooden works appear to leap from the gallery wall and enter the viewer’s physical space. Replete with spatial tension, Du Pasquier’s visual lexicon is rooted in juxtaposition. Newly conceived, her constructions contain soft curves of painted wooden forms set against incisive, rectangular edges. Likewise, earth-toned hues of blue, green, beige, and brown contrast brilliant reds and yellows. The result is a vibrant and expressive energy that draws viewers into Du Pasquier’s unique vision. Her use of unmodulated color obfuscates traditional perceptions of depth, confounding expectations to provoke engagement with the forms themselves, as well as the qualities inherent to canvas or wood. Instead, some works use color to suggest a sense of perspective; grey or black forms may recall a sharp shadow in the vein of artists such as Giorgio Morandi and Giorgio de Chirico, whose mysterious, unsettling compositions hold significant inspiration for Du Pasquier.

Photo: Nathalie Du Pasquier, Untitled, 2022, Oil on canvas, 100 cm × 100 cm (39-3/8″ × 39-3/8″), © Nathalie Du Pasquier, Courtesy the artist and Pace Gallery

Info: Pace Gallery, 5 Hanover Square, London, United Kingdom, Duration: 28/4-25/5/2023, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 10:00-18:00, www.pacegallery.com/