Awareness: Jerome Lagarrigue

After seeing the "Giants" exhibition at the VMFA, one of the artists whose work stuck with me the most was Jerome Lagarrigue. Raised in Paris, Lagarrigue graduated from RISD with a degree in illustration in 1996 before teaching painting and drawing at the Parsons School of Design from 1997 to 2005. In 2005, he completed a residency at Villa Medici in Rome, which culminated in the solo exhibition "Paesaggio del Viso," or "Landscapes of the Face." Lagarrigue has collaborated with big names such as Maya Angelou and George Lucas. His work is expressive and emotionally charged, approaching a variety of subjects with active movement and energy in every brushstroke.

His website: https://www.jeromelagarrigue.com/

CV highlights (full CV here)

Awards

2013 “Pollock Krasner Foundation”, NY.

“Joan Michell Foundation”, NY. “NYFA” NY.

“The Artst’s Fellowship”, NY. 2005-2006

“Villa Medici” Academy of France, grant and residency program, Italy Rome.

2002 Coretta Scott King- John Steptoe Award for best new talent,

Ezra Jack Keats Award for best illustrator, “Freedom Summer”, Simon & Schuster. 2

000 Marion Vanett Ridgway Award for best illustrator, “My Man Blue” Dial Penguin.

1996 Joseph Lefevre Award for excellence in painting, RISD.

Solo Exhibitions

2017 Lazarides Gallery “The Tipping Point”, London.

2016 Gallery Josephine “Encrypted” Martha’s Vineyard.

2016 Galerie Olivier Waltman, “Redhook Sonata” Paris.

2014 Driscoll Babcock gallery, “Visible Man”, NY.

2012 Waltman Ortega gallery, “Closer”, Miami.

2011 BDG Gallery, “Anne Claire” Chelsea NY. 2010 Palais de la Bourse, “Urban Boxing United”, Marseilles France. 2009 Galerie Olivier Waltman, “Brooklintimate”, 74 Rue Mazarine, Paris , France. 2007 Galerie Olivier Waltman, “Boxing”, 74 Rue Mazarine, Paris , France.

2006 Villa Medicis, “Paesaggio Del Viso” Viale Trinita Dei Monti,1, Rome Italy.

2005 TheXpo, “Synchresis”, 63 Pearl ST, Brooklyn NY 11201.

2003 UFA Gallery, “Paintings” 526 W 26th St, New York.

2002 Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance, 1399 South Roxbury Drive, LA.

2001 The Cutting Room “Boxers”, 19 W 24th St, New York. 2001 Time Hotel, “Link”, 224 W 49th St, New York.

1999 Bank Street Theater, 155 Bank St, New York.

1998 La Maison Francaise, “Recent Works”, Columbia University, New York.

1997 La Maison Francaise, “Paintings”, Columbia University, New York.

"Portrait of an Unknown Protester" 2017,  96" x 74" (244 x 183 cm), oil on linen.

"The Fall of Sector X" 2015,  40" x 30" (100 x 76 cm), oil on linen.

The two pieces above are from his series, "The Tipping Point," which captures a generalized portrait of what lies beneath global conflict and protest. I enjoy how Lagarrigue uses selective detail to create emphasis on the most important parts of his pieces, such as in the eyes of the protester. I also find his ability to create smoke and fire with loose but vibrant expression to be eye-catching and provocative. Each piece feels almost like a hazy dream or memory.

“Kwame” (cousin) 2019, 96” x 72” (244 x 182 cm), oil on linen.

Lagarrigue stretches color and texture to near-abstraction in pieces like "Kwame," which again attributes to a sense of energy and life in every portrait. It inspires me to lean into the looser/more expressive side of my own painting that I've only just begun to explore in "Poise." While I often feel as if detail and precision make a piece more "impressive," Lagarrigue's work reminds me that deliberate expression and even abstraction mixed with portraiture can create a much more dimensional body of work.