Dimitri Horta

2002.4.1 - 4.27

The various works of Swiss artist Dimitri Horta can be classified into three categories:

(1) Cropped details of the female body are carefully painted onto a small canvas of around 13 x 13 cm. The flowing lines of the female figure created by its soft flesh intercross upon a black background, capturing and evoking the mysteries of the human structure.

(2) Oil paintings with referrences to the style of Art Brut. This series of paintings, all fitted onto a rugged handmade wooden frame with the image coated in fiberglass, exceed the boundaries of a two dimensional painting, but rather fit the description of an object d'art.

(3) Pencil drawings relating to automaticism. The playful lines take a life of its own as they depict female-like figures in a surreal, twisted dimension.

The three distinct styles practice an underlying theme of human existance. Horta's keen curiosity towards the human being, both physically and psychologically, is presented with a demented twist. Examining the fundumentals of our existance, he explores the undefined, often times disturbing the viewer in its absence of security. This exhibition will prove to be of importance, especially in Japan, for the art scene has been hi-jacked with superficial conceptions and modern day graffiti. Horta's themes may sound out-dated or conventional, yet it is because of artists like him that challenge the inevitable, that we find a future for art itself.

- Akio Nagasawa






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