“Today, creativity evolves in a transversal manner.”

By Laurent Delaloye.

The figurative painting of today no longer intends to prettify. It is no longer preoccupied with representation alone. A new generation of creators has emerged, with a discourse covering social, ecological and responsible worlds. They put our reality to task using crude terms. Portraits and landscapes no longer concern the artist alone, since the applications of smartphones confer talent upon each and every one of us. Graphic artists reset the stage for the people of tomorrow, surrounded by a nature they would like to idolize, yet this is not always possible (…) This approach belies great complexity and intelligence.

The most significant evolution concerns the work of the artist as photographer, an artist who displaces imagery, removing it from its traditional medium. I have just met a young Masters graduate from ECAL working in this field, Alina Maria Frieske, who enables photography to break free from its traditional sphere of inspiration by immortalizing it in a manner akin to painting, through sublime human composition derived from social media and its multiplicity of ephemeral images.

Bridging the artistic divide

I have questioned the very notion of artistic divide for a long time. Today, human beings can no longer be preoccupied with knowledge alone. We are allowed to be emotional; it is even called upon. Nowadays, creativity evolves in a transversal manner. Design must be utilitarian, images spring forth from dinner plates, paintings come to life, animated by video, architecture is twinned with sculpture, photography is “installationary”; the utilitarian object in and of itself is disappearing, or should I say its function is becoming less rational. Painting no longer tells the story of the artist but rummages deep within our souls, photography questions our way of being and therefore of seeing. Sculpture is now animated.

Abstraction conveys a certain representation of emotions. Personally, I do not need to reassure myself with the figurative, which serves only to comfort old habits. I am the associate of a restaurant which is also a genuine art gallery – L’Abordage, in St-Sulpice, a stone’s throw from Lausanne. There, private viewing sessions take place alongside the artist, in osmosis with cooking based upon a menu curated according to the works hanging on the walls. I like to say that the artwork has descended into our plates and that, as a result, our eyes are moving up the walls. Here, seeing, eating and drinking come together. And personally, the figurative and the abstract are the catalysts of this osmosis.

The artist no longer bears witness to our era, they anticipate our future. The artist no longer deals with representation but with reflection, with questioning. They are our TOMORROW.

A True “Passionator”

Allow me to add some thoughts based upon the word “collector”, one I find patronizing. I much prefer the term “passionator”, a contraction of the words “passion” and “collector”. In all truth, I seek to hand my passion down to others. Originally, I grew up in an environment open to fine arts. My father, a physician, loved to visit art galleries, antique dealers and workshops, so as to lay his hands on original Swiss paintings and etchings. In my own way, I have carried on with this quest, but in a highly contemporary manner by focusing primarily on the close-knit development of local initiative and of spaces to be lived in. In my collection, initiated 40-odd years ago, Romansch Switzerland recklessly rubs shoulders with (inter)national creation, art brut coasts alongside works that are geometric, abstract, colorful and so on.

Beware of first glances

Above all, I cherish artists whose work is on the cusp between schooling and notoriety. I love meeting people at the dawn of a career. Thoughts, like actions, are tinged with a great deal of spontaneity, intensity and truth. These impulse choices subscribe to a logic of sorts – “beware of first glances”. The first thing to attract my attention could be composition, energy…anything but that initial spark. This is not something I believe in – it fades all too quickly. I like a work to unveil itself to me over time, a work one has to get to know, a work one has to tame. How I detest split-second judgements! In a nutshell, my works do not come into their own after just one look. I appreciate it when they evolve according to the time of day, daylight and/or night lights, natural as well as artificial lighting, according to the seasons, to one’s moods…

With this approach, I have in fact convinced certain clients to buy a work that may at first seem repulsive. Generally, a signature is of little importance to me, though I do admit that the works of artists such as John Armleder, Olivier Mosset, Sylvie Fleury, Maya Rochat, Claudia Comte, Camille Scherrer, to name but a few, exert an irresistible pull over me.

I see my collection like a play presenting a classic unity of time, place and action. All these works have a history, they are telling a story (…)

Collector and contemporary art advisor, Laurent Delaloye focuses on several artistic media. As a reflection of his personal collection, he writes in the press on young creators and original exhibition spaces and shares his passion on Facebook as well as Instagram (_lau_dela_)

Member of the FLACexecutive committee which promotes galleries and artists from Romansch Switzerland and especially from the Leman basin, he is responsible for publishing within this committee.

He also pilots the artistic management of the restaurant – galerie L’Abordage in Saint-Sulpice. Laurent Delaloye has been able to present his collection to the public at l’Espace d’art abstrait, of the Musée d’art de Pully and at La Fabrik in Monthey.

From June to September 2020, his collection shall be presented at l’Espace CHUV in Lausanne.