The everyday becomes remarkable : Nicolas Cussac
By Ellen Turner Hall
La Maison de la Catalanité in Perpignan is host to a new exhibition of the works of Nicolas Cussac, featuring large-scale paintings as well as pocket-sized sketches on paper.
Cussac’s home is the subject of his paintings. Details of his family kitchen, dining-room and bathroom are painted with loving attention. Yet seen from Cussac’s playful perspective, the familiar becomes strange.
A woman standing at the kitchen sink is seen from above, the torso of a plumber holding an enormous spanner emerges from below the kitchen counter, a woman lies atop a piano slanted toward the viewer, a ceiling light dangles toward us as if we were lying in bed looking up. Cussac’s foreshortening catches us off balance.
Displayed in two glass cases, the sketches form a crazy quilt of trees, plants, water, rocks and whatever else caught Cussac’s eye. All the works communicate an attention to detail, a love of colour, and an appreciation for objects we take for granted: the frayed sponge on the sink, the immense orange casserole on the cooktop, the marbled floor tiles. In Cussac’s vision the everyday becomes remarkable.
The exposition continues until 12 August 2022. Open Monday to Friday from 9h00 to 12h00 and 12h30 to 17h00.
Thank you very much for this article, the whole challenge of the painting is here; how to make an object that is alive and interesting with nothing more than our daily life.