Hadrien de Montferrand Gallery is honoured to present a group exhibition by two foremost contemporary artists Barthélémy Toguo and Guo Wei. BOTH artists have put a strong emphasis on drawing in their work. Guo Wei says paper procures him “a feeling of intimacy” and that “to draw on paper feels just like writing, it's natural, free and easy”. Toguo says of drawing that it is “an intimate, sincere and fitting artistic practice through which you can’t lie or cheat”.BOTH use bold and rapid brushstrokes in watercolour and ink to produce very different works:Whereas Toguo chooses to depict the African mysticism of imaginary characters, His “devil’s heads” are the epitome of both his technique and his artistic vocabulary. Guo Wei concentrates on the malaise of Chinese children. Guo Wei hopes the children he laid down on paper are all angels.
Toguo, who is said to be a “a genius (…) in perpetual movement” by leading French Art critics, has not only been extensively exhibited in galleries in Paris, New-York, London and Milan, but also chosen by curators in biennales in Poland, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Greece and Cuba. His work has been acquired by the most prestigious institutions including the Centre Georges Pompidou, Europe’s largest contemporary art museum, the Kunstsamlungen der Stadt in Dusseldorf and the Miami Museum of Contemporary Art.
“Brilliant compositions and provocative themes” could define many of Guo Wei’s works of Art. His has been the object of exhibitions in New-York, Mexico City, Bangkok and Munich and presented by institutions such as the Guangzhou Triennial, the Louisiana Museum in Denmark, the Seoul Performing Art Center in South Korea and in the Jakarta National Art Museum in Indonesia. His work has been collected by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Guy and Miriam Ullens Foundation and the Guerlain Foundation, a leading French drawing collection.
