The prestigious Château Sainte Roseline vineyard is one of the richest historical sites in Provence with the presence of the Sainte Roseline chapel in the heart of the château. Besides producing an outstanding and constantly awarded Cru Classé Côtes de Provence wines, Château Sainte Roseline’s owner Aurélie Bertin organizes every summer, since 1998, a world-class cultural program to propose an exhibition of internationally-known artists Robert Courtright and Bruno Romeda.
This summer, she offers her guests and visitors of the Château an exhibition from July 5 to September 30, 2013, of works by Italian sculptor Bruno Romeda (sculptures) and American painter Robert Courtright (collages, masks) in collaboration with the Galerie Jean-Jacques Dutko.
Bruno Romeda, Italian artist born in 1933, evokes the influence of César’s welded metal parts, as well as the Minimalist American sculpture, from Carl André to Donald Judd, that he discovered in New York in the 70s. Minimal lines and figures of his sculptures (circle, triangle, square, perspectives…) are found in the clean lines of his furniture in bronze. “The object creates the space,” Bruno Romeda says.
Settled in France in 1952, the American painter born in 1926 Robert Courtright inspired from the 1970s from the imagination of the Nice Carnival to create artistic masks. Mediterranean landscapes and Italian Quattrocento made him develop an abstract art made of collages using monochrome paper, cotton, marble paste and acrylic. Robert Courtright died last year.
In this exhibition, both artists are complementary: Courtright joins sculpture in that his painting collages present some matter when Romeda presents two-dimension openings lines through his scultures. Both work of Art demand viewers to turn around them and open their own imaginary world, this opening of minds being provoked by the presence of the artist’s work. Closely looking at Courtright’s colored collage let appear some difference on the surface, evolving with the light when one looks at it after different angles.Romeda’s talent is to change the space with his sculptures: they subtly change the area in which his works of art stand, especially if they are set after an elaborate staging to expand the perspectives. His circles, squares, triangles thus become doors requesting our imagination to play with the works of art and discover how three dimensional effects change when turning around them. But Romeda’s sculpture are not only objects to walk around. They let the energy circulate between the full and the empty, what Lao Tseu expressed very well in his The fullness of Emptiness poems: “The nothing makes the unity”.
Art is everywhere in Château Sainre Roseline and in its park, dotted with works by Folon, Jim Dine, César, Arman, Jan Desmarest, Bernar Venet, William Sweetlove … who for the most part already exhibited here. The Château chapel, built in the twelfth century, contains a mosaic by Marc Chagall, Giacometti bronzes and light enters through stained-glass windows by Jean Bazaine and Ubac. The Château Sainte Roseline proposes as well a rich program of cultural events during the summer including many concerts.
Exhibition until September 30th, on free acces.
Château Sainte Roseline – Les Arcs Sur Argens – Var
Tel: 33 (0)4 94 99 50 30
It saddens me to know that the wonderful man and exceptional artist Robert Courtright has passed away. I am proud and honored to say that I have in my personal collection, works by both Robert and Bruno. In the early eighties, I was a guest at their home in Opio, above Nice. They were both immensely kind, personable, generous and quite giving of their knowledge. Robert will be missed deeply. That you honor him with such a beautiful show furthers his legacy and affords him great life after death. My warmest regards to Bruno.