Now that the Mois de la Photo is winding down, the galleries in the Belgo are shifting gears and we are seeing more exhibitions which focus on other disciplines besides photography. Galerie Lilian Rodriguez‘ current show (Re)Penser la Peinture unites four young painters who examine the medium of painting.

I am most captivated by the vivid canvases of François Simard. Spontaneous, colourful, and complex, Simard’s abstract works are a perfect balance of colour and shape, of messy marks and hard-edged geometry. Even in this small sampling of artworks you get a sense of the artist’s extensive vocabulary of forms and methods. Each piece is infused with a playful exuberance that is simply hypnotic.

Julie Trudel‘s large, circular paintings are more controlled, but no less intriguing. What at first glance look like giant woven place mats are minutely executed drip paintings. Titled CMYK, they consist only of the colours cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. By carefully placing each drop of colour in a line spiralling out from the centre of the circle, the screen printing inks create subtle hues and shades. Trudel’s works look relatively tame from a distance but rather psychedelic from up close, as the colours fragment into their components.

Fragmentation is also the main component of Daniel Lahaise‘s works. Lahaise tends to focus on portraiture, though for him the human figure serves merely as a starting point. As he adds and erases his marks, the traces he creates quickly transform into pure abstraction. The sharp, shattered forms of Lahaise’s latest pieces, traced in pure black, are sandwiched between the rough surface of raw wood panelling and a smooth, thick layer of glossy resin. The jagged shapes are suspended in mid-air and look elegantly menacing.

The only artist not working with abstraction is Marianne Pon-Layus. Her paintings on raw canvas question feminine identity and social norms. Her tableaux of domestic bliss are disrupted by images of social and sexual domination. Cartoonish renderings of women in the kitchen are invaded by drawings of porn stars and harlots. None of the women look realistic, and there is an artificial awkwardness which permeates each work.

While there is no obvious theme or thread running through the exhibition, there seems to be a subtle undertone of questioning, be it in regard to painterly issues of form and colour, or an exploration of social issues.

Galerie Lilian Rodriguez, space 405
Daniel Lahaise, Marianne Pon-Layus, François Simard, Julie Trudel
(Re)Penser la Peinture
September 17 – October 29, 2011
www.galerielilianrodriguez.com