Visitor's Book of the
Art Gallery Valmuraz, Nyon
One is overhelmed
by the perfect command of the technique which is each time
adapted to another theme
by a total receptivity towards animism which is not spoiled by
an acuity of knowledge but much better, has its roots in
advanced scientific findings
by a continual honesty in this synthesis between sensitivity
and thought
In short, the Era of Aquarius has its precursors and Gérard Grandjean
is one of them.
Thank you for this message of wisdom and hope.
Professor Blanc
Art Academy
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Art Gallery 'Zum Elephant' - Zurzach
Franz Ke
ller
Zurzacher Zeitung, Zurzach
Creation
The unusual way from Zoology to Painting
Eavesdrop on Nature
Three elements have determined Gerard Grandjean's artistic evolution: the constant proximity to Nature, his travels in regions of the world, which on maps were almost 'zones blanches', and his professional approach to zoology, the world of animals.
During his childhood, the excursions with his parents meant more than just a hike to complete the herbarium. It was each time an occasion to observe the interrelation between Humans and Nature. The longer trips brought him to the Middle East and from there to unknown areas of the Middle Himalayas such as Sikkim and Bhutan.
It was not a question of seeking adventures (although they were not missing), but to get interested in regions, which have to a great extent been preserved from the modern world of civilisation. Confronting this world in front of the magnificent mountain range was for Gerard Grandjean an experience of possible limits. This may explain the mystic components of his paintings. Many themes turn around the basic question of Doctor Faust regarding forces, which assure the intimate Union of the World and the Cosmos.
How does the artist see himself
In a few impressive phrases in his mother tongue Gerard Grandjean explains his conception of Art and his way to express himself.
L'Art est pour moi une démarche essentielle. Elle est une manière de traduire la Grande Leçon que nous prodigue la Nature dans toutes ses manifestations les plus cachées, les plus secrètes. Le peintre est en somme, tout comme le sculpteur, le musicien, l'écrivain ou le poète, un intermédiaire privilégié auquel il est demandé de rendre visible la grandeur du Beau'.
The artist exists, so to speak, if he is granted the favour to express himself in his creations in a unique way.
Between reality and the world of dreams
The artist's communication and closeness with Nature are not immediately translated in his pictures. Figurative interpretations are at the most perceptible in the first signs. The representational experiences in relation to their deeper associations are steadily questioned in order to reduce them. With this in mind, most of the paintings are transgressions, which the titles forecast.
Fata Morgana in Baluchistan
leads to
Visions and Fantasies
After
The last Border
follows the entrance in
Other Worlds
and to
Flower of the Hereafter
and to the infinity in
Song of the Galaxies
It is felt very strongly: the artist is not prepared to accept short-lived ideas or fashion-trends.The development of this dream world is convincing and understandable. He masters the oil/acrylic technique to a point that one cannot resist its magical fascination.
As a contrast to his paintings, the artist presents small mainly wooden sculptures expressing a more objective view.To every kind of wood the artist can tell his own story. For him, the actual creative work begins at the moment he chooses the material.
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Art Gallery 'Zum Elephant' - Zurzach
Ursula Meier-Hirschi
Aargauer Zeitung - Aarau
While he is painting, creating and meditating Gerard Grandjean examines the World closely and creates the most unusual visual experiences.
Already as a child Gerard Grandjean knew exactly when the migrating birds flew south and when they were expected to return. He said to them good-by and welcomed them in the spring, as if they were his personal friends. When he was observing Nature in his surroundings or during his many extensive travels in the Himalayas Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and Assam, and in other Far East countries, he always tried to dialogue gently with animals and plants. He wanted to come closer to the secrets of Nature and to the Earth – being the Mother of all that is alive – get to the bottom and then try to understand the connections as well as the rules of this interplay. These meetings, observations und experiences formed and determined the future life of the artist.
Between dream, esoteric and reality
First, Gerard Grandjean created a studio for taxidermy. Museums and private clients, especially huntsmen estimated the work of this specialist, but one day, Gerard Grandjean could not continue this activity. It became for him incompatible with his understanding of Nature and his concern to preserve it in its varieties and in its unspoiled quality.
He withdrew from this profession and became painter and sculptor. He started to create his own world: a world between dream, esoteric and those real meetings with Nature that procured Gerard Grandjean – thanks to his imagination and his artistic knowledge – another level of conscience.
For example, 18 years passed between his stay in India and his interpretation of the first deep impressions he received in a mountain valley: innumerable horsetails lined the way, this ancient plant, which grew long before humans inhabited this World, and on both sides of the ravine were rocks, ancient, silent, enigmatic big stones. And if you look closer to Gerard Grandjean's painting
Himalaya of the Masters
you will discover on these grey rocks forms of human features: History of mankind that turned into stone, or at the end it came to life again – because the miracle 'Life', the secrets of the astral world and myths fascinate and inspire this artist again and again. The picture
Atlantis
the continent submerged in the Mediterranean, around which different scientific theories and also theories of imagination have been established – translates an unshakable reality in its many different green and turquoise shades. Also in the realm of this long-past reality belongs the picture
Flower of the Hereafter
a blossom that resembles an orchid from which different parts sprinkle like a puzzle symbolizing Life in its most secret forms.
Enigmatic and hidden
Hidden details in the pictures, which at first sight may be classified to belong to abstract painting, are characteristic of the artist's work. In
Valley of the Fairies
something wondrous is going on: the image area is light and transparent like the air of a morning in the spring, and with a closer look, it is livened up by countless butterflies and birds. From the realm of the Fairies it goes to the world of the
Shaman
the eagle-owl, an attribute of the Shamans, integrates in itself the animal and the magician, and in the picture
Visionary Breed
emerges from an abstract-painted jungle a lynx, the favourite animal of the artist.
Tibet of Legends
recalls the artist his souvenirs of the Himalayas. Suddenly on a dreamlike background are monasteries and palaces visible half in the clouds, half in the countryside, as if by magic they had been thrown here.
Gerard Grandjean gives his inner world shape also in sculptures. The small-format sculptures made of different kinds of wood, such as olive, beech and plane trees are reserved to the fauna: small living organism such as a
Caterpillar
or the
Praying Mantis
are his examples, with the
Tiger Claw
made in beech, the 'tool' of the animal has been transformed in a modern, convincing form.
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