Godon in the footsteps of Matisse
- Dated: December 2017
- Media: L’Oeil
Godon in the footsteps of Matisse
Alain Godon is a phenomenon. He isn’t a regular at the Palais de Tokyo or at the FIAC, but every one of his works sells for between €50,000 and €200,000. His galleries, one in Miami, are begging him for paintings and his list of clients is as long as the liberal professions and business owners’ directory for the Upper Region of France; and indeed they are one and the same. In 2008, four hundred of his fans crossed the Atlantic to see his exhibition in New York. Aesthetically, his work allies itself with that of street art, which he himself only half-heartedly defends. Self-taught, he cut his teeth on chalk drawings on the pavements in front of the Louvre. In celebration of its 53 years, the Matisse Museum of Le Cateau-Cambrésis offered him his first exhibition in a major museum. Its director, Patrice Deparpe, proposed that he retrace the footsteps of Matisse’s journey from New York to Tahiti. From his stays in these places, Godon brought his impressions back with him, which he then transcribed onto his paintings, his sculptures and his installations. So the first sequence, devoted to this American city, shows urban landscapes in a generally sombre overtone. A sentiment reinforced by a device, employed on three occasions, where a painting is accompanied by a series of twenty-four aluminium prints reproducing the same painting at different hours of the day and night. Here, Godon’s style, which is so distinct, is expressed with more intensity in the urban landscapes, precisely drawn and coloured, falsely naïve and filled with characters that are as much autobiographical in content as they are a reference to current events. The Polynesian sequence, predominantly consisting of installations, immerses the visitor in a sun-filled, festive climate. The setting of the stage is as carefully presented as the works themselves. You leave bursting with positivity.
Jean-Christophe CASTELAIN