Ronan Barrot's 'Cataract' Paintings at Galerie Trafic

Ronan Barrot, a medalist from the École nationale des beaux-arts de Paris in 1998, presents his latest exhibition 'Trafic' at Galerie Trafic in Ivry-sur-Seine, France, from June 9 to July 7, 2001. The show focuses on landscape paintings, specifically a series titled 'Cataract,' depicting waterfalls. Barrot's figurative style references Ingres, Courbet, Bacon, Hockney, Baselitz, and Kirkeby, though the critic notes a weakness in drawing compared to color. The works also allude to Duchamp's 'The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even' and Bataille's 'Story of the Eye,' with conceptual nods that the critic finds somewhat heavy-handed. A series of vulva paintings inspired by Courbet's 'L'Origine du monde' is criticized as lacking freshness. The review encourages Barrot to embrace pure painterly joy without conceptual crutches.