The french connection
“The Rain Shower” oil and acrylic Olivier Suire Verley 11.75 x 23.5
Saturday, August 8 from 5:00 to 7:00
Olivier Suire Verley One Man Show Reception
Addison Art Gallery 43 South Orleans Road, Orleans, MA
There will also be a toasting and meet & greet for Olivier Suire Verley at the French Cable Station Museum next door (41 South Orleans Road) from 4 to 5:00.
Olivier Suire Verley was born October 2, 1952 in La Rochelle (on the Atlantic coast of France) to a family of artists. His grandfather Louis Suire was a renowned painter (Oliver added his mother’s maiden name, Verley to his father’s name so as not to be confused with his grandfather, whom he cherished and admired) and his father Claude (now retired) was a publisher of art books and is an amateur painter himself.
Olivier studied in La Rochelle first, then in Tours. Moving to Paris, he also studied etching. Of a surrealistic tendency, the themes of his paintings of the time were based upon evasion from reality, fantastic travels and the sea. During that period, the colors in his palette were dark and melancholic.
1982 marked a profound change in Olivier’s inspiration: as by a refining process, it turned to become a quest for the essentiality in life, leading the artist to discover the salutary power of color. From that time onwards, his themes also changed; landscapes, still-lifes, portraits and again, the ever-present sea – the sea of Île de Ré – a small island off La Rochelle. He left Paris definitively and settled on that island, where he lives and works today.
Since then, his inspiration has drawn first from the colors of the holiday season in Île de Ré and on the Atlantic coast of France; then from those of Paris streets in winter or at night, and more recently from the light of Morocco and Spain. Today, Olivier seeks to meditate again on evasion, the elsewhere of our dreams, of our regrets sometimes, and of our hopes forever.
He shows throughout France, in China, Japan and, in the United States, exclusively at the Addison Art Gallery. His work is featured multiple books and films.
Artist’s Comments
Helen and I have been working together for ten years now, at the rhythm of one one-man show every other year. This is our tenth anniversary, our sixth show, and the twentieth anniversary of the Gallery. What a year!
My first inspiration remains the human being and its environment, its connivance; small scenes of life become exceptional if one knows how to pay attention to them. Fleeting lights and movement, dynamics, our hesitations that give a meaning to life.
Often my inspiration comes from situations, or occurs at totally unexpected moments. It’s like a thunderbolt. Nothing prepares you for it, there is no rule; a meeting, a conversation, a book, a landscape, a woman, or even a bit of nostalgia.
I love Helen Addison’s Gallery. The eclecticism of Helen’s choices, the friendliness of her collector friends, their loyalty and courage to open themselves to less conventional art forms.
I too live on an Atlantic island, Île de Ré; its charms, for those who know, could be confused with those of Cape Cod. Light, sand dunes, that “islander” character imposed on us by geography, that seafarers’ solidarity, and the endless sky that opens heart and mind.
The work has arrived from France and can be previewed at www.addisonart.com/olivier-suire-verley or in the gallery. For more information, please email or call 508.255.6200.
The French Cable Station Museum
This station was the American termination point for a telegraph cable that came directly to Orleans from France. It was installed in the 1890s and was almost 3200 miles long. During World War I, General Pershing in France communicated with the US Government through this cable station. In 1927 the message that Charles Lindbergh had landed in Paris came through this station from Paris. It was then sent to the rest of the United States. Free guided tours are available of an historic collection of original Atlantic undersea telegraphic cables, instruments, maps, and assorted memorabilia. http://www.frenchcablestationmuseum.org
