The Large Lake, II, 2022,

Five years ago already, Stéphane Erouane Dumas stunned us with his linear birches and rocks. In 2021, he showed new sculptures and more psychic forms. Today, he is opening a new show at Pierre Alain Challier’s pretty gallery on rue Debelleyme with a mix of birches, lakes, forests, colorful lichens, bronze sculptures, and even jewelry modeled on nature. The canvases are quite enchanting with a variation on icy winter scenes and autumn effervescence. Blue lichens become abstract and yet retain their magic. Yellow lichens bring us gold while birches parade in a true ballet of tree trunks. I particularly liked his new smaller “Cliff and vegetation” where the stone-like pieces carry traces of bright red and green and are shaped like sculptures.

Stéphane Erouane Dumas in his studio,  Paris, January 4, 2023. © Michel Lunardelli

“Despite their snow like smoothness and muted chords, the paintings are far more incendiary than they appear. They glow with an invisible fire, an intrinsic inner light that is never astral. Each canvas is a fireplace, a hearth, so that these stacked trunks are perhaps logs immolating our “tristes tropiques”… The landscapes are less physical than psychic. They ar ocular experiences.” This is how art historian Colin Lemoine finely describes the work in the very pretty catalog.

Vertical cliff, Bronze, 2022

The themes of birch trees, rocks and lichen are similar to his previous show’s, but the colors seem both stronger and more fragile, like in “Nocturne, lichens” where pinks and greens fracture the black night. In the series of the Large Lake, the subtlety of the blues mirrored in the water is hypersensitive. “Two floating cliffs” remind us of his love for Varengeville, the Norman sea side town where he finds the shapes for his sculptures and the grey color for his paintings. Nature is constantly present in his works and the new presence of lichens adds poetry.

Jewels are inspired by his bronze sculptures like this “pendentif”. Pins and cufflinks are also exhibited downstairs

Smaller sculptures like “Bumpy Cliff” are positioned in front of the paintings and the scenography of the show adds a constant movement to the many paintings. Do visit the gallery Pierre Alan Challier at 8 rue Debelleyme in the Marais until March 30. The poetry of the show will overwhelm you.