Phases of the Moon

Lisson Gallery, Beijing
18 May – Autumn 2024

British artist Christopher Le Brun returns to China for a solo exhibition at Lisson Beijing with a new series of paintings that highlight the musicality that is inherent in his artistic practice, weaving together a profound harmony of nature and melody. These ambitiously scaled works epitomise the artist’s classical technique of painting that nevertheless has its roots in spontaneity and intuition. Allowing each gesture to flow freely and drawing directly with tubes of paint without preliminary outline or under-painting, Le Brun evokes complex spaces filled by his abundant pictorial imagination. This presentation follows Le Brun’s previous exhibitions at Lisson Shanghai in 2019, a solo exhibition at The Red Brick Art Museum and a dual presentation with Su Xinping at the Museum of Contemporary Art & Urban Planning, both in 2021.

Upon walking into the exhibition space, the spectator is greeted by a dense and extensive triptych entitled Lontano (2023), which shares its title with an orchestral composition by the twentieth-century avant-garde composer, György Ligeti. Mirroring its musical counterpart, Lontano – which is Italian for “far away” or “in the distance” ­– unfolds its rich interplay of staccato and legato passages (musical terms for disjunctive and flowing) that build and eventually merge into a harmonious whole. The relative quiet and emptiness communicated by light neutral tones are contrasted with episodes of frenetic texture and dark-hued intensity, creating a sense of narrative that is rare in the abstract realm.

Across the room from this monumental triptych is Le Brun’s latest searching venture into multi-panelled composition. Echoing the artist’s figurative beginnings, Phases of the Moon II (2023) finds inspiration from lunar references throughout art history. Episodes of sunlight and moonlight follow each other, embodied through alternating passages of warm and cool light. Emerging as if from the intervals between consciousness and sleep, Phases of the Moon II speaks in the symbolic language of memory and imagination.

Also presented in this multi-sensory dialogue is the captivating oil on canvas diptych, January Just (2024). Much like Lontano, this large panoramic work resembles an extended musical composition, challenging the viewer to engage with it over time. Through the build up of structure and material, January Just evokes a sense of imminence reminiscent of modern classical music. Painted incidents that emerge within the textured surface are like clues that invite the spectator to trace how its unique appearance came into being.

The exhibition also features two single paintings, Promenade (2023) and Tidings (2023). Employing similar motifs as a unifying thread, these works invite the spectator to travel further into the metaphorical landscape that Le Brun has created. In Promenade, the canvas becomes a vast expanse of potentiality akin to the sea, where each colour appears to break the surface or be submerged beneath it, waiting to see and to be seen. While Tidings draws inspiration from the artist's intimate connection to the landscape of the Somerset levels, it is not a literal depiction of a specific scene. Instead, by means of its subtle layers, the painting re-enacts the atmospheric nuances that brings these English grasslands to life.

The exhibition ‘Phases of the Moon’ invites viewers to a visual encounter that transcends the boundaries of traditional pictorial expression. Le Brun’s evocative paintings open up a profound experience of abstraction and sensory perception through his mastery of touch and colour.

4/F, Building D7, Yard No.3, Jinhang East Road, Beijing
www.lissongallery.com
Text extracts on this page taken from the press release by Ossian Ward.
Installation Photography Credit - Yang Hao 
Exhibition Catalogue Credit - Zoe Anspach
Images copyright Christopher Le Brun, DACS 2024