Hervé BORDAS
Born in 1952 in Paris
Living and working in Venise from 1990
Hervé Bordas’ writing follows a line nourished by abstraction and figuration along an indecisive border that he does not recognize. The lines tear and move apart, the spaces open up in search of the world and wander in the desert of the nights. Sometimes a forest of trees, processions of silhouettes, successions of moments or characters, snow soldiers, frost warriors leaving for the countryside, banners at the forefront, apparitions, “portraits”. More recently, arborescences, branches that look as much at breathing as at corals or river deltas, the sides of mountains, the melting snow. Obviously, all these people are either there or not, it’s a question of taking a good look at them. A world of geology and eros. Infinite ramifications, both in the lines of the hand and in those of the night, between the constellations. The gap between the stars and our life is a reflection that tightens on the still being or the non-existent. The line alone follows its path, it divides, it suggests, these are our constellations. As it forms, the line closes and opens up to other forms. There is in the paintings, worked in layers, a whole alchemy of “doing”, a few minutes, or hours, days or even years. The vision must be focused. This painting is in fact more on the side of a writing, that of Michaux or Klee for example. The observer is also a reader, you have to get close to it, even very close. Looking at these paintings with a magnifying glass wouldn’t displease me. It has to swarm well, it has to be well “inhabited”.
Education
Solo Exhibitions
2021 Arbres blancs, PJ Gallery, Metz, FR
2006 Luce Nera, La Vetrina del fare, Salerno, Italy
2003 Canti affilati, Spazio Opera, Matera, Italy
2003 Forets-Cortèges, Catalogue with text by Jean-Christophe Bailly, Arenthon Gallery, Paris, FR
1987 Limmer Gallery, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
1986 Art Cologne, Hachmeister Gallery, Münster, Germany
1985 Bilder und Lithographien, Volksbank Gallery, Biberach, Germany
1984 Bilder und Graphik, Catalogue with text by Gilbert Lascault, Hachmeister Gallery, Münster, Germany
1983 Per Modo di vestigio, Gallery of 7, Paris, FR
1982 Peintures sur papier, Hachmeister Gallery, Münster, Allemagne
1982 Fragments, Catalogue with text by Jean-Christophe Bailly, Vivian Véteau Gallery, Paris, FR
1981 Graphik, Limmer Gallery, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
1980 Physiogrammes, Catalogue with text by Alain Jouffroy, Le Dessin Gallery, Paris, FR
Group Exhibitions
2025 la ruche, Paris, France
2025 « bleu [blø]», Galerie PJ, Metz, France
2012 Un sempre cominciamento (ou la langue de l’enclume), Hus Gallery, Paris, FR (With Domenico Brancale, Raffaelle Amenta and Aurelio Donato Giordano)
Fairs
2024 Art Busan, Galerie PJ, Busan, South Korea
Bibliography
Critical Article
1984 Hervé Bordas, Descente, Aléa Review
1982 Pierre Cabanne, La saga d’images d’Hervé Bordas, Le Matin
Catherine Nadaud, Les Physiogrammes d’Hervé Bordas, Libération
1980 Michel Nuridsany, Une peinture répétitive, Le Figaro, September
Jean-Marie Dunoyer, Le Monde, September
Pierre Cabanne, Une solitude créatrice, Le Matin
Marie Parra-Alédo, Hervé Bordas, Yomiuri, Tokyo
Pierre Cabanne, Les Expositions, Le Matin
1979 Hervé Bordas, L’intuition irréfutable, Opus International, April
Illustrated Books
2019 « Florilegio Veneziano », Edizioni l’Obliquo, Brescia, Italy
2018 François Bizet, « Dans le Mirador », Les Presses du réel, (with a frontispiece by Bordas)
2017 Michelle Parra-Alédo, « Images Innées », Prova d’artista, Venice, Italy (100 numbered copies, the top 9 with digital reproduction)
2016 « Domenico Brancale / Hervé Bordas, « Congiungimenti », Prova d’Artista, Venice, Italy (200 copies)
2014 « Adnan Õzer, la forza delle lacrime », Prova d’artista, Venice, Italy (Poems translated from the Turkish by Luis Miguel Selvelli, with 4 drawings by Bordas)
2013 Joël-Claude Meffre, « Vers les puits », Approches éditions, Fougères, FR (33 numbered and signed copies with original inks by Bordas)
2013 Andrea Longega, « Caterina », Edizioni l’Obliquo, Brescia, Italy (30 copies with original ink)
2012 Domenico Brancale, « Cette extrémité », à la Pension Victoria, Corbières, FR (12 print copies of « tête de mort » numbered and signed with a « nature morte » by Bordas)
2011 Hervé Bordas, « Portraits de Famille », Prova d’artista, Venice, Italy (41 nominatives copies, numbered and signed with 10 ink reproductions)
2006 Henri Michaux, « Il Lobo dei mostri », Edizioni l’Obliquo, Brescia, Italy (30 copies with original ink)
2006 Domenico Brancale / Hervé Bordas, « Frantoi di luce », Mavida, Reggio Emilia, Italy (250 copies. 40 numbered copies with original lithograph)
2003 Revue collective A’ Camasce n°3, CTL Press, Hamburg, Germany (300 numbered copies. The top 20 with original ink)
2003 Domenico Brancale, « Canti Affilati », Franco Masoero, Torino, Italy
1983 Jean-Christophe Bailly, « Per Modo di vestigio », Editions Copal, Paris, FR (With 10 original lithograph, 50 copies numbered and signed by the authors)
1979 Alain Jouffroy, « Le Monde est un tableau », Pierre Bordas & Fils, Paris, FR (With 11 drawings. 30 copies signed by the authors with a numbered and signed)
Public Collection
Address
10 rue des jardins, 57000 Metz, France
Hours
Wednesday-Saturday 11.00am-6.00pm
Contact us
+33 3 87 68 52 40