New Haven Register
John Favret’s exhibit at New Haven library is a real gem
Sunday, September 12, 2010
By Judy Birke,
NEW HAVEN — Every now and then one comes across an artist with
whom one is unfamiliar, whose work is so good that it is hard to imagine
that one hasn’t come across it before.
John L. Favret is such an artist.
A fine exhibit of his acrylic paintings is currently on view at the
New Haven Free Public Library through Oct. 2.
Consisting of a group of life-sized figurative images reminiscent of
the German Expressionists of the first half of the 20th century, who
used figuration to express inner feelings, Favret approaches his subject
matter from an expressionist rather than a realistic point of view.
Emotionally charged and visually forceful, the source material drummed
up from memory and imagination, these evocative dramas seem to express
Favret’s take on the exhilarating turbulence and terror of life.
Whatever the subject matter, whether a day at the beach or blighted
buildings in an urban neighborhood, Favret’s dynamic interplay
between process, narrative and form, wreaks emotional havoc, imbuing
the paintings with a disquieting and delicious sense of anxious imbalance.
In lushly rendered images like “Crapshoot,” of gamblers
and onlookers, “The Wave,” of a group of figures in turbulent
waters, and “Hitchhike,” of a solitary figure on a country
road, the distorted figuration, the pulsating brushstrokes, the intense
movement and high-toned coloration, all contribute to a wrenching sense
of disquiet in which the painting process is so evident that the works
seem to record the physical activity as it is occurring.
But these paintings are not just about emotion. Favret also pays thoughtful
attention to the formal elements of composition and form.
By cropping edges of objects, buildings and bodies, by suspending figures
at surprising angles and orientations, by leading the viewer into the
pictorial space with dynamic diagonals, via a road, a ski slope or
the direction of a wave, Favret creates an exciting sense of tension
within a unified pictorial structure.
Subject matter, too, keeps pace with process and form, Favret cleverly
tapping into ambiguous content that plays with one’s mind.
In the aforementioned “The Wave,” for example, of figures
playfully negotiating waves in the ocean, one also observes a single
figure at the top corner of the image, whose wave of a hand, in seeming
desperation to stay afloat, hints at another association to the painting’s
title. A seemingly self-satisfied alligator just happens to be floating
by. (Am I reading too much into this?).
Other fine images like “The Float,” of figures splashing
in water, and “Jump School,” of figures involved in a rescue
from a fire, reveal Favret’s balanced fusion of a moment in time
with his keen awareness of its relationship to a particular place.
The exhibit was curated by Johnes Ruta.
Judy Birke of New Haven is a freelance writer and art consultant.
Anson C. Smith, Public Relations Coordinator
Housatonic Community College
900 Lafayette Blvd.
Bridgeport, CT 06604
Tel: 203-332-5229, Fax: 203-332-5247
E-mail: asmith@hcc.commnet.edu