PIERRE PIVET - Download PDF here

Initially fettered by the weight of academic instruction, Pierre Pivet managed to liberate himself from his overly rigid schooling while maintaining many of its positive elements. The great names of painting are his real teachers: his artistic endeavours have been nourished in turn by Rembrandt, Vermeer and el Greco. The rendering of light characteristic of Rembrandt, and the lively lyrical strokes of el Greco served as initial guides. He then became enraptured with Cézanne whose prescribed forms and voluminous consistency are, in their strictness and rendering, reminiscent of the Flemish masters who had previously influenced him. Next came Braque, re-orienting his conception of space and design, transformations which Gauguin and especially Matisse were no strangers to in their time.

Pivet's approach is more reminiscent of a collection of thoughts and sensibilities that unite creators on a level well beyond those of generation or aesthetic. The artist has been able to integrate and amalgamate diverse tendencies - the resulting images both surprise and jostle our standard references - by containing his subject matter in an intimate space that seems folded in on itself, but that also develops from the inside through the fragmentation of different images, all united by colour. In this intimate space, objects speak out in subdued light, as if whispering, as if really important things can only be uttered without being spelled out. In this way a dialog is established between personages and the objects the artist has a particular affection for. Pivet's works, which have erroneously been called examples of "still life", take on a very living expression. In addition, all Pivet's canvasses reflect a human presence, even if the beings seem absent, because the objects they contain invariably refer to the omnipresent human element.