Gérard Traquandi's Mountain Visions Across Three Lyon Exhibitions

Gérard Traquandi presents recent works across three simultaneous exhibitions in Lyon and Villeurbanne, France, from January 24 to April 7, 2002. The shows at Galerie Confluences-IUFM, Galerie Georges Verney-Carron, and Le rectangle feature paintings, photographs, engravings, and drawings, all centered on mountain landscapes. Traquandi's approach revives the alpine motif, long associated with dubious ideologies, by emphasizing tactile sensuality over romantic conquest. His photographs, printed like engravings using pictorialist techniques, achieve a rare haptic quality. The paintings recall the abstract landscape sensuality of Willem de Kooning's "Rosy-fingered Dawn at Louse Point" (1963) and the Cubist nudes of Picasso, which Traquandi cites as a revelation for their full-canvas deployment. Critic Didier Semin notes Traquandi's courage in tackling this politically incorrect subject, comparing his mountain to Caspar David Friedrich revised by mountaineer Walter Bonatti. The exhibitions run concurrently, with Galerie Confluences-IUFM and Galerie Georges Verney-Carron closing February 28, 2002, and Le rectangle closing April 7, 2002.