Eulogy for a Hornbill, 2019

Eulogy for a Hornbill

agnès b. is pleased to announce the solo exhibition Eulogy for a Hornbill by French artist Bruno Gadenne will open on Saturday, September 7, at the agnès b. Galerie Boutique at 50 Howard Street in New York. Comprised of 16 new paintings inspired by his travels in Malaysia and Indonesia, this will be his first exhibition in the US for the Paris-based artist.

Eulogy for a hornbill.

One needs to cross the jungle, climbs on platforms suspended from the trees and trust one’s lucky star to observe the hornbills. If they are not visible at first glance, hornbills do inhabit Bruno Gadenne’s paintings. Somewhere, lurking in the pink mist or behind a tree trunk, they survive human activity as they can.

With this new series of paintings, the young French painter takes us to the discovery of a “narrative landscape” which takes root in Malaysia and Indonesia more than in a fantasized nature. From his travels across Asia, Bruno Gadenne retains strange shapes and colors; but beyond the image, he allows the viewer to face the sensations.

Nature’s emptiness and wholeness intoxicates us and make us suffocate. Like standing at the edge of an unknown forest, we are simultaneously attracted by the desire to discover and frightened by a dominating nature.

What lies behind the waterfall or the dense foliage on the riverbanks is certainly what Henry David Thoreau or John Muir described more than a century ago. Like those naturalist writers, each artwork proclaims that wild and remote lands deserve a strong aesthetic commitment in order to be better acknowledged and preserved. To better give the landscapes their surreal colors and their uncanny aspect, Gadenne renewed his palette and let the light rays float.

Long after we have admired those crimson nights, we are still looking for a hornbill’s presence.

“Like so many other tropical species, these hornbills are in danger, due to poaching and massive deforestation. That’s why I did not represent a single animal in the paintings presented here. Perhaps some still hide in the mist, between layers of oil paint. This exhibition is a way to honor them.” – Bruno Gadenne, August 2019

Sébastien Ruiz

About the agnès b. Galerie Boutique
The agnès b. Galerie Boutique in SoHo, New York, opened in 2011 and was the first agnès b. retail
location with a dedicated art space. Part gallery, part boutique, it uniquely combines art and
fashion, hosting several exhibitions each year with a focus on contemporary photography, painting,
and sculpture. Other Galerie Boutique locations exist in Paris, Marseille, Tokyo, and Hong Kong.
agnès b. Galerie Boutique
50 Howard Street, New York, NY 10013
Gallery hours are Monday – Saturday (11am – 7pm) and Sunday (12pm – 6pm)
Tel. 212 548 9730