Jean Lagadec - "Poetic Visions"

The Norman Cross Art Gallery kicks off Christmas and the New Year - 2008 with an Exhibition of works by Parisian artist Jean Lagadec. Ironic that a Frenchman is exhibiting his art at the former site of the French Napoleonic Prison Depot, but then again not surprising, as it's former inmates were not only known for their part in history some 200 years ago, but of their legacy left behind in the city - their art, now housed in Peterborough Museum.

Born and educated in Paris, Lagadec's interest in art was cultivated on the Left Bank where he was found mixing in art and jazz communities of the late 1950's.
Settling in England in the early 1960s, Lagadec continued in his artistic pursuits both speculatively, managing his own gallery in Brighton.

Jean has his works held in private collections in Great Britain, the continent, Africa, North America and Australia.

Jean describes his recent work as a development and fascination with light and shade on his subjects, expressing a transcendental and sensual vision of abstracted beauty. His work is the visual poetry; a playful exploration of form and structure, enticing the viewer to decipher what the image may offer. With such simplicity of line and a bare hint of shadow, what may appear at first to be abstract form crystallises into a clearly defined image.

Lagadec's work offers expressive possibilities, and while in themselves pieces of undeniable aesthetic elegance, force us to contemplate and interpret rather than to meekly observe and pass over. When observing his work we find ourselves engaged in pursuit of our perceptions, challenged to investigate the representations before us. Opposing the Western view that a painting is finished when you cannot add anymore to it, he prefers the Eastern concept about art, that a work is finished when you cannot take nay more out!

Jean has a Norman Cross Artist's Page