Simon Hantaï

In his incessant quest for innovation and exploration of the limits of painting and the canvas, his work evolved. He used a scraping tool to work on the layers of black paint that covered the coloured surfaces of his canvases. The end result is that of a negative and gestural painting, closely resembling the style of Jackson Pollock. From 1960, with Mariales, Hantaï painted “blind” a previously folded surface by covering it with colours, and thus developed the technique of “folding as method”. By crumpling and knotting the canvas, and then painting it evenly, before spreading it out to reveal a complex matrix of patterns between pigment and ground, Hantaï produced fractal compositions which played on the alternation between control and chance. He went on to experiment with further techniques, rubbing the canvas to push the boundaries of painting even further. HIs folding approach and his exploration of the reserves of painting opened up new paths in abstract art.

Simon Hantaï participated in the Azur exhibition in 1993.