In 2009, the two visual artists offered the audience “Connivence 1” which was a great success. Ten years later, the father and son return with “Connivence 2” which will be shown at Fort Fleur d’Épée in Le Gosier (Guadeloupe) from December 20 to January 6, 2020.
“You can only see well with the heart. The essential is invisible to the eyes.” This quote from the famous novel “The Little Prince” by French writer and aviator Antoine de St-Exupéry published in 1943 can, according to Lucien and Olivier Léogane, summarize their approach concerning “Connivence 2”. Indeed, the two artists invite the audience to look at “little things, those that often go unnoticed. This quote makes even more sense today in an eternally changing society where everything is always going faster”. And the father and the son wonder together: “Shouldn’t we focus our mind on the little details and give them the place they deserve? Shouldn’t we avoid getting carried away with the waves and currents imposed on us by our contemporary society?”. And we learn that through “Connivence 2”, both invite art lovers as well as novices who will come to Fort Fleur d’Épée in the town of Le Gosier to make an “inner journey” and encourage them to “tame the invisible”. We already know that the two visual artists used color in a subtle way and put together geometric shapes in a particular way so that visitors go in search of this invisible…
For her part, the art critic Nathalie Hainaut who has been following the work of these two artists for several years gives more details on this exhibition. So in her review entitled “Connivence 2 or the zones of synergy”, she wrote: “Connivence 2” also links two plastic practices: oil on paper for the father, Lucien Léogane and mixed techniques for Olivier, the son. Thirty works on paper and a few paintings produced respectively in their workshop, in Montreal for Olivier and in Grand-Bois for Lucien, will interact, follow up and feed off each other”.
“Koukara” for Lucien Léogane, “Horagai” for Olivier Léogane
We must said that Lucien Léogane is now a retired 68-year-old teacher. Guided by the painter Adolphe, he discovered painting during his adolescence and, after his baccalaureate, he studied art at the University of La Sorbonne in Paris. In 1988, with the visual artist Klodi Cancelier, he created with “Koukara”, an artistic movement intended to promote visual artists and their arts in Guadeloupe and all over the world. In addition to Guadeloupe, since 1987, Lucien Léogane already exhibited his works in several Caribbean islands (Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, St. Lucia, Curaçao, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Cuba, St. Martin, Martinique) as well as in France, USA, Canada, Brazil. “I am interested in the energy in painting, I channel this energy. I went from realism to surrealism, then to a non-figurative style with a symbolist tendency. I believe that my way went constantly from visible to invisible and with the years, the part of the intangible becomes bigger. My artistic way is more and more clear, directed towards the light…”, he said.
As for his son Olivier Léogane who was born in Paris, he chose to settle in Canada. This self-taught painter first knew the discipline through “street art” and graffiti. He named his art “Horagai”. “This intuitive technique combines spontaneity, explosiveness and relief at the same time. The repetition of geometric patterns leaves a shapped trace on the support and offers a quite simply disconcerting result where, color and shape are in perfect harmony, and from the movement of this succession of motives springs an emotion”, we can read in his biography. Today, Olivier Léogane organizes artistic events for the promotion of arts in Montreal, his adoptive city, and has already exhibited his creations in New York, Paris and Florence.
After the success of “Connivence 1”, held in 2009, the father and the son are waiting for a large audience to discover “Connivence 2”, this painting exhibition thought for two, for eighteen days.
