The exhibition to see: Berlinde De Bruyckere and Nedko Solakov at the Commanderie de Peyrassol

In the vineyards of the Commanderie de Peyrassol, the colorful flags of Daniel Buren flutter in the wind. You can see them from afar, as if placed in lookouts of this wine estate in Flassans-sur-Issole (Var), dedicated as much to Bacchus as to contemporary art. Here, permanent works, indoors or deployed in the open, rub shoulders with new arrivals, through temporary exhibitions and recent acquisitions. Among these is a still life by the Brazilian visual artist Luzia Simons, from her series Storage, which sees a meeting of cut flowers referring to the paintings of the vanities of the 19th century. The realistic rendering of the composition, due to the scannogram process, catches the eye with its unparalleled definition and delicately faded hues.

A few steps away, the Dynamobile by the cantor of narrative figuration Jacques Monory, dated 1986, also attractive to the eye with its sparkling trichromy of blue, yellow and pink in the service of a detective fiction in three parts, which summons cinema, advertising and news. Under the triptych, two small figures, barely perceptible, seem to be active on either side of a white line. They owe nothing to Jacques Monory, but everything to Nedko Solakov. This Bulgarian, who lives and works in Sofia, has received carte blanche from Peyrassol to immerse himself in his own way, playful or introspective, around the pieces from the collection of Commanderie boss Philippe Austruy, which, in addition to Monory, contains works by Etel Adnan, Anish Kapoor, Jean-Pierre Raynaud, Niki de Saint Phalle or Takis.

“Stories told on the spot”

Solakov takes over the space with his doodles (doodles), short stories, aphorisms, puns or drawings that he introduces at the edge of a painting, in the interstices of a crack, on the contours of an electricity socket… “These are spontaneous interventions, stories told on the spot; he does not premeditate what he is going to scribble here or there because it is essential for him to be surprised by the discovery of the places”, underlines Mathilde Marchand, responsible for the collection. It’s almost a treasure hunt to hunt down the writings and the miniature figures interwoven in the most improbable places of the course, which open up the imagination without ever being intrusive: “I play with space and play with it, but I remain respectful of the works exhibited, they are the ones that take precedence”, assures the artist.

A very different tone with the Belgian Berlinde De Bruyckere who exhibits her raw sculptures made from pieces of wax, sometimes embellished with tattered blankets. Trunks of trees veined with blood red, inanimate or fragmented bodies… From this universe at first sight deadly and meaty (it is often recalled that the artist’s father was a butcher), the visual artist introduces protective virtues. Made during confinement, his series of archangels, inherited from classical statuary, combines suffering and hope, like his Arcangelo glass dome with legs cut off and protected by a shell of animal skin.

“Berlinde De Bruyckere grew up in a Catholic universe, is familiar with the virgins under glass domes that she has always collected. Her hybrid work questions the limits of the body, we do not know what kind of object we have in front of us It promotes a very open reading of the work”, comments Mathilde Marchand. The Commandery, where the shadow of the Templars in the 13th century hangs over and the protection of pilgrims on their journey to Palestine, has moreover inspired the visual artist to create a new monumental archangelic piece, which she has just installed in the park in the middle of the vineyards.