Page 6 - Boca Club News - April '21

Page 6, Boca Club News
Boca Museum of Art Exhibit, “Paul Gervais:

Faces and Forms” To Run Through May 30th

The Boca Raton Lives of Lucian Freud” of paintings behind
Museum of Art’s premiere by William Feaver. the forms as nods
of new paintings by Paul “All of a sudden one to iconic abstract
Gervais features portraits day at home I came down expressionist
with a tenderness that to breakfast and there works. In some of
urges the viewer to lean was my husband Gil, his other abstracts,
in closely, to really and it all clicked: in a Gervais projects
study them. All of the flash I took his photo tones inspired by
subjects in the portraits and rushed to my studio 18th-Century neo-
are personal, from the to paint my very first classical colors. Four Figures in the Sunset, oil on
life he has shared for 46 portrait,” says Gervais. Others show forms linen over board in artist’s frame,
years with his husband The intimate, smaller with oxidized copper 2020.
Gil, of whom there are scale of these paintings hues that give heed to
several paintings. The was inspired by Freud’s the Statue of Liberty, with a horizon line of pale blue sky.
exhibition is curated by Self-Portrait, oil on linen, 2020. smaller works, especially Gil at Home, oil on linen, 2020. In addition to his literary success with the PEN/Faulkner
Kathleen Goncharov, the Freud’s petite portrait of Award Finalist nomination, other short fiction and articles by
museum’s Senior Curator, who chose to accompany the 14 Queen Elizabeth. Gervais have been published in anthologies and periodicals
portraits with a series of 13 paintings by Gervais of imagined “To me, when I observe Lucian Freud’s body of work, including The Los Angeles Times. “My lifelong devotion to
objects. his portraits come across as a kind of autobiography. When art, both visual art and writing, are my two passions. I believe
The exhibition is on view through May 30th, and features viewing them I feel as though I could fill in the blanks of that both art and writing come from the same place in the
an exclusive online conversation with Paul Gervais as part of his life, and the history of art in that place in time.” artist. They are just different disciplines,” says Paul Gervais.
the Museum’s Collectors Forum Series for Members. This Also an acclaimed author, Gervais’s first novel was Gervais met Gil Cohen in 1974, and the artist credits their
virtual visit to the artist’s studio will also be made available a finalist for the prestigious PEN/Faulkner Award for shared life of more than four decades as being instrumental
free to the public later on, as part of the BocaMuseumatHome Fiction in 1991. Presciently, the title of his first book was in his art. They now live in London and Palm Beach County.
series sponsored by Art Bridges Foundation and PNC. “Extraordinary People”, foreshadowing his focus today on In 1982, the couple became internationally famous for
“Whether real or imagined, all the paintings in this painting people who are extraordinary because they stand the garden at their celebrated home in Lucca, Italy, where
exhibition are a reflection of Gervais’s life and perceptions,” out in his life. they lived for 34 years before moving to London in 2016.
says Irvin Lippman, the Executive Director of the Boca “When I’m painting a portrait, I’m thinking about that The 60-acre estate, Villa Massei, was built in 1500 by the
Raton Museum of Art. “The intimate scale of these works person all the time. A true likeness is what I am looking for Counts Sinibaldi. Hundreds of garden lovers and botanical
forces the viewer to move in closer in order to see each most of all,” says Gervais, who always paints his subjects clubs visited their garden. It captured the attention of Prince
painting’s fine details, and in the case of the portraits ― to from a photograph. “I prefer to catch them while they are in Charles, who invited Paul and Gil to his Highgrove Royal
more closely read each subject’s personality,” adds Lippman. a reflective moment,” he says. “I don’t usually want them Gardens. Many notables visited the garden and stayed at
The work of Paul Gervais is in the collections of several looking at the camera. I prefer they never pose nor aim to the villa, including: David Hockney; the Queen of Norway;
institutions, including: the Museum of the Legion of Honor please, to show a more intimate look at the person.” Princess Maria Pia of Bourbon-Parma (the daughter of Italy’s
in San Francisco; the Bank of America Collection; the San “The Abstracts are also a Portrayal of Something that last king); Hubert de Givenchy; James Lord; Edmund White;
Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Hall Collection is Me.” Although the forms referred to in the title of the Kathleen Turner; and Michelle Phillips, among others. His
in New York. In 1980, he earned his MFA from the San exhibition are imaginary, they reflect Gervais’s sensibility book, “A Garden in Lucca”, is a personal memoir recalling
Francisco Art Institute. Gervais also earned a B.A. in English and experience, and are closely linked to his portraits. the author’s journey of self-discovery after caring for the
Literature at Saint Michael’s College in Vermont in 1969. Gervais refers to these forms and figures as “all-time, from extensive garden.
At San Francisco State University, Gervais studied poetry throughout all cultures of human history.” These abstractions Regarding this new pairing of his portraits alongside the
with Robert Creeley and Phillip Lamantia. have personal relevance for Gervais, such as Sculpture and paintings of imagined forms, Gervais states: “I am thrilled
His work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions a Pool ― an homage to David Hockney, whom Gervais met the Museum is showing them together, because they are
throughout the U.S. and Europe, including: The Achenbach when he was a student at the San Francisco Art Institute in linked. Faces and Forms takes a closer look at figuration in
Foundation for Graphic Arts/The Museum of the Legion of the 1970s, when Hockney was a guest lecturer. art. The abstract forms are positioned like actors on a stage,
Honor; Sunne Savage Gallery (Boston); Leah Levy Gallery Hockney became friends with Paul and Gil. He pictured interacting with light and shadow and with each other. This
(San Francisco); Fritz Gallery (Palm Beach); Bagni di Lucca the couple in one of his Composite Polaroid works during show could be seen as people in my portraits contemplating
Art Festival (Italy); and Gavlak Gallery (Palm Beach). that period, and they have remained friends ever since. the mysteries of abstraction, their faces surrounded by their
Always Seeking the True Likeness. The artist was driven “The abstracts are also very much a portrayal of inner artistic conundrums. Also, could this pairing be seen
to explore portraiture for the first time by two events in something that is me,” says Gervais. Some are imagined as an affirmation that all painting is simply portraiture,
early 2020 that left an indelible mark on Paul Gervais: interiors, such as the hybrid style of Enfilade, a cross between whatever the subject? This brings to mind a quote by
after he saw the exhibition “Lucian Freud: Self-Portraits” a minimalist home and a contemporary art gallery. Jamie Wyeth: Everything I paint is a portrait, whatever the
at London’s Royal Academy of Arts; and after reading “The In some of these interiors, Gervais includes depictions subject.”

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