Christophe Baudson

Colored dots, protruding canvases, thick slabs of paint, extreme pixelation rendered with impasto, and fields of adjoining colored spots. The obvious jumping off point into Christophe Baudson’s work is to consider our experiences of his paintings as canvases. He often will craft pairs or even a series of canvases based upon formal juxtapositions of color and shape. He is a painter whose imagery quickly references the shape and surface of the canvas. Baudson´s abstractions are challenging to the viewer, however there are clues as to his intent. Christophe Baudson is a painter who projects his canvases far off of the wall and into view, subtly invading the immediate spaces surrounding them. He will gently attack our senses using impasto, or the occasional split canvas, and eye bending color combinations. Baudson is very formal as a painter who has all but reduced himself to color and shape, though even still the spirit of the work is charged and suggestive. Baudson hints at specificity when he introduces titles such as Slurp and Peinture à forte séxualité/robe rouge, or when he explores the motif of digital media and the female form, we are exposed to a program of human sexuality. It might be better to suggest that motion and fluidity, or better fluids, are the keystone ideas (both literally and figuratively) to be found throughout Baudson’s extended catalogue. These formal qualities of though are only tongue-in-cheek as you will hopefully see. By entering into the paintings of Christophe Baudson´s one is tasked with conjoining the often disparate compositional elements into meaningful patterns. This makes one an accomplice in Baudson´s tacit advocacy for both sensuality and motion.
Brian Irelande
Scénographe/Scenic Design
New York