At the heart of this exhibition is the ethos of Brutal Expressionism, a contemporary movement born in response to the increasingly chaotic and unpredictable world we inhabit.
Curated by Candice Berman
At the heart of this exhibition is the ethos of Brutal Expressionism, a contemporary movement born in response to the increasingly chaotic and unpredictable world we inhabit. Both Chamayou and Mogridge reject pretence and convention, instead embracing the raw, the emotional, and the absurd. Their works are not safe havens of beauty or serenity but rather spaces of confrontation – whether through the discomfiting figures in Chamayou’s paintings or the playful yet subversive ceramics of Mogridge. Brutal Expressionism offers no clear answers but compels both artist and viewer to engage with the messiness of human experience.
For Chamayou, this confrontation is deeply personal. His art is a cathartic process, a physical struggle with his materials and emotions that produces works of intense energy and ambiguity. For Mogridge, the confrontation is societal, using humour to upend our expectations of power, authority, and permanence. Together, their works reflect the duality of existence – where beauty and violence, tenderness and absurdity, coexist in a chaotic and unpredictable world.
This exhibition is an invitation to step into the raw edge of that chaos, to experience art that does not shy away from the brutal truths of our time, but rather confronts them head-on, offering catharsis, absurdity, and perhaps even a glimmer of understanding amidst the disorder.
At the heart of this exhibition is the ethos of Brutal Expressionism, a contemporary movement born in response to the increasingly chaotic and unpredictable world we inhabit. Both Chamayou and Mogridge reject pretence and convention, instead embracing the raw, the emotional, and the absurd. Their works are not safe havens of beauty or serenity but rather spaces of confrontation – whether through the discomfiting figures in Chamayou’s paintings or the playful yet subversive ceramics of Mogridge. Brutal Expressionism offers no clear answers but compels both artist and viewer to engage with the messiness of human experience.
For Chamayou, this confrontation is deeply personal. His art is a cathartic process, a physical struggle with his materials and emotions that produces works of intense energy and ambiguity. For Mogridge, the confrontation is societal, using humour to upend our expectations of power, authority, and permanence. Together, their works reflect the duality of existence – where beauty and violence, tenderness and absurdity, coexist in a chaotic and unpredictable world.
This exhibition is an invitation to step into the raw edge of that chaos, to experience art that does not shy away from the brutal truths of our time, but rather confronts them head-on, offering catharsis, absurdity, and perhaps even a glimmer of understanding amidst the disorder.
