Cussac at the Chateau de Jau

By Ellen Turner Hall

 

In the sumptuous surroundings of the Chateau de Jau and its former silk-factory turned exhibition space, Nicolas Cussac’s  art has found a  home for the summer.

Painter  of the fantastic in the familiar and the marvellous in the  mundane, Cussac   explores domestic  life  with a difference.

Nicolas Cussac at Chateau Jau
Nicolas Cussac: self portrait

Cussac’s bathroom sink (2006-7) with black water flowing from the tap or filled with sardines is where  the banal becomes a theatre of the unexpected.

Nicolas Cussac at Chateau JauA classic sofa (2008) upholstered in red and white stripes is the setting for different dramas, one of two adult nudes with a city view and another  of two children and a view  of the beach. Two kitchen paintings (2011-13) distort our perspective and catch us off balance.  A ceiling light hangs at an impossible diagonal while  a plumber lies captive under the sink. Cussac proposes more fun and games in  a painting of  a  black and white crossword atop a red and white-checked table cloth and a multi-coloured tiled floor, each  pattern repeating the symphony of squares.

Nicolas Cussac at Chateau Jau

Covering  entire walls , the artist’s smaller canvases  are displayed in an eclectic array including a landscape with cactus, a boat in drydock,  a skull,  fruit, the entrance to Chateau de Jau, a  TV antenna,  a car,  a woman’s portrait and the artist’s feet.

Don’t forget to continue your visit into the tasting room where, among cases of Jau’s excellent wine, hangs an arresting portrait of an adolescent girl. Note Cussac’s mastery of technique in his use of colour, composition and the detail of the folds in her grey hoodie.  The dead and dying leaves in the foreground  lend an edginess and urgency to what it means to be  young and careless. Cussac’s art is a hymn to the beauty and fragility of our lives.

Nicolas Cussac at Chateau Jau

The exhibition continues to 30 September 2024.

For details see: www.chateaudejau.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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