Whether it’s on canvas or paper, in watercolor or acrylic, in collage or in relief, he gives life to his dreamlike world, his ethnic, poetic and animal tribes playing with a range of shades and nuances of blacks and subtle mix of color. Parisian based artist Hermentaire presents his solo show A Tribe Called Djambo.
When visiting Barcelona, Hermentaire visited the Fundació Miro and was inspired by the spirit of Miro’s drawings, with a touch of surrealism and graphic style. In this series of both large and small format, the artist explores where his own unique style and his formation of characters meets with that the famous Catalan artist and sculptor.
While creating this gallery of characters, sometimes represented as a couple, sometimes alone, he began to stage them in their environment. His characters appear now in several sceneries, landscapes, always in a subtle way. Djambos are shy, a somewhat hidden tribe, slightly suspicious, as until now, they lived quietly in their natural element in the heart of nature which is today disrupted, threatened by the violence of the modern world. Therefore, there will always be an eye somewhere in his work and Hermentaire plays around this sometimes in a figurative way, sometimes in more abstract composition.
For his paper works, Hermentaire used a hand pressed cotton paper from India. The result is exquisite, with each piece containing an abundance of texture, hence, no glass was used in the framing, so as to immerse the onlooker directly in the piece. The edges of the paper, with their slight imperfection, enhances the sentiment the works seem to require of the viewer - one of spending time to observe and understand the subtleties within these seemingly simple, but, in fact, extremely detailed works which are flawlessly executed.
The details achieved in these paper works requires intense precision from the artist. The nuances found in the ‘black’ colour of these two works, almost creating a dyed effect, along with the precision of the strokes which form the necklace in Princess, exemplify his level of exactitude.
