Ephemeral2003–2005
Éphémère - Ephemeral
2004, 39½ x 39½ ins
ink on fiber glass
Private collection
Lydia Harambourg « Le voyage de la couleur » 2005 (extract)
In the Éphémère series, the fluidity of the colors brings to mind the fragility of Lepidoptera. Caring little for real forms, Bellegarde opts for line and color in the sole aim of evoking emotions that will find sensorial connections within each one of us, resulting in a succession of rapid movements and withdrawals when we approach the painting.
Vibrating in reaction to the real makes the world—as Bellegarde experiences it and rediscovers it on his journeys—accessible. He projects himself into the colored spaces that take possession of a canvas that refuses to be a mere illusory support. A canvas that is much more than a receptacle for the spectrum of light exalting color.
As did Odilon Redon, Bellegarde in turn provides—with the color of vision—a corollary to the eye-sun mimetism described by Goethe in his Theory of Colors. What is he seeking with his gaze? A jubilation set in time, passing through all the nuances of clair-obscur.
