Ode Bertrand

For Ode Bertrand's first solo exhibition at the gallery, we will be presenting works created between 1974 and 2016. Our first collaboration dates back to 1989. I met her in her studio, and she confided in me that she had practiced dance for many years before dedicating herself to painting. She told me that her works would never be larger than the space her hand could reach.
The line, the stroke, the rhythm are the guiding threads of her exploration. She immediately embraced geometric abstraction, embarking on this path without hesitation. The niece of Aurélie Nemours and her only disciple, she was long content with the sharp eye she brought to her work; solitude and contemplation were part of her daily life during her early years as a painter.
She works, as she likes to say, in series of pieces; the setbacks she encounters during her creative process lead to the next painting, and the series ends when her gaze is no longer surprised. Color is not her credo, yet it is present at times in her work, often revealing the line, the interstice between two colors. She speaks of her paintings as presences, what remains when everything is removed; she would like them to be the imprint of a mystical presence. Texture and layering are not part of her practice, yet some of her works are treated in this way, but this is more to refine the tonal value than to play with transparency, because there is none. What is certain is that we are far from aesthetic ostentation, and that this exhibition will compel the viewer to slow down and contemplate.