Galerie Lelong & Co. | Etel Adnan; Discovery of immediacy | Paris

January 13 – March 12, 2022
Etel Adnan; Discovery of immediacy
Galerie Lelong & Co.
In-Person Viewing:
13 rue de Téhéran, 75008 Paris, France
Virtual Viewing:
https://www.galerie-lelong.com/en/exposition/138/etel-adnan-decouverte-de-limmediat/
The gallery was preparing along with Etel Adnan an exhibition of her most recent works, when she passed away on November 14 at the age of 96. Over the course of 2021 Etel Adnan had mainly concentrated on the production of an imposing series of paintings on canvas, mostly in monochrome. The artist, who previously took great pleasure in applying pure colour with a knife, chose a paintbrush and a single colour to capture what she describes as her “Discovery of Immediacy”: flowers, fruits, inkwells, flasks and more. In addition to these still life works, which are like pictural snap shots, she has also produced paintings entitled “Intrusion of the Memory” where souvenirs of mountains and landscapes are juxtaposed with the still life. Immediate data from the conscience and images emerging from memory thus coexist.
Etel Adnan had deliberately avoided simplicity or repetition. She continues to surprise us with these austere but luminous works, their coherence illustrated by their presentation in lines and groups.