Preview – Thursday 3 March: 5-7pm
Bernard Piffaretti’s paintings are characterised by the vertical division of a central brushstroke, a technique which creates distinctly individual compositions all the while bonding each and every painting in his oeuvre. However, for his second solo exhibition at Kate MacGarry, Ridgeline, Piffaretti presents a series of paintings which are aligned on not just one but two axes, vertically and horizontally, conceptually and physically.
The aligned lower edge of each painting forms a continuous contour around the gallery, reminding the viewer to consider each of Piffaretti’s works as part of a whole. His dedication to the consistency of a format gives his practice in its entirety a discernible identity, total connection and the boundaries to explore the nuances of a visual language. The paintings cannot be perceived without the awareness that there are others. This method of display however gives emphasis to the displacement of visual authenticity within the images – the central border does not unite the works in the uniformity of their appearance, “it is mainly in the differences, in the divergence, that an image will displace its model, and it is that displacement that will make it effective” (Bernard Piffaretti, 2007). The viewer is encouraged to scrutinise each half of a painting without verifying the resemblance – it is not a mirror image he executes but a partner, recited from memory once the first half is complete.
