Martyn Symons, Painter and Véronique Kowalski, sculptor
Pavillon des Arts, Port Vendres
By Ellen Turner Hall
The latest show at the Pavillon des Arts is a pleasing marriage of painting and sculpture.
Martyn Symons’ seascape paintings portray water in all its forms and moods: tranquil and meditative, angry and edgy. “Northern Landscape” with its textured beach brings to mind strolling on the shore, the sand between your toes, while a cold yellow mist engulfs the lone figure in “Shadow of the wind”.
In “A Reef of clouds” with the horizon at the bottom of the canvas, a cloud bank looms above a tranquil sea. The minimalist composition of “Meditation” with a few reeds shooting upwards from a horizontal watery world is reminiscent of oriental painting.
The second room is devoted to urban landscapes: windows, doors, roofs, interiors with mirrors, and paintings within paintings. The portraits suggest a wide range of possibilities. Note the man with “His head in the clouds”. Whose are the faces emerging from the landscape of his shirt?
Véronique Kowalski’s works in clay are individual pieces of singular beauty or small groups which tell a story. While her “angels” spread their protective wings, the family of four “Naufragés”, speaks of all those immigrants who never made it to a safe shore. In “Aveuglement” the black lines on the white face accentuate the sadness and isolation of blindness.
The only sculpture in stone, “Fécondité”, is a voluptuous round body emerging from a rough base. The stunning “Le cri de la Forêt” is a lone figure, in a multi-coloured robe, head lifted to the heavens to express its dismay.
Pavillon des Arts, Port Vendres
Opening hours are 10 to 18 every day from 18 to 30 June.
Thank you Ellen for your concisely written and appreciative article on the current exhibition at the Pavillon des Arts in Port Vendres. I would recommend that people come and have a look for themselves.