Swords, Eric

The son and student of expressionist painter Louis Pevernagi (1904-1970), Eric Pevernagi grew up in Brussels, in a unique atmosphere of mixing two cultures (Romanesque and Germanic). In the Brussels Athenaeum, at the foot of the legendary statue of the Manneken Pis, the future artist became acquainted with a bright surreal world, the description of which was given by Michel de Gelderod. Studying the Anglo-Saxon and German cultural heritage, Pevernagi graduated from the Free University of Brussels and received a master's degree in German philology (1961). Pernage traveled a lot. He received another academic degree at Cambridge University (Great Britain). Erasmus University awarded him the title of professor. Passionate interest in social interaction and international relations led Pevernagi to create in 1973 a socio-cultural club called the "International Recreation Center." To this end, he acquired two ships in the port of Brussels, which became known as the River and the Art Rick boats. As a result, interesting people began to gather at Pevernagi - Claude Lelouch, Atom Egoyan, Roy Lichtenstein, Hugo Klaus and others. Pevernazhi received the title of associative academician and member of the International Academy of Literature, Arts and Sciences in Verbano.

The creative process of Pevernazhi is both plastic and literary in nature. Words, titles, phrases and graffiti are extensions and interpretations of the visual effect. The artist finds inspiration in various aspects of social structure. The central themes of his work are social interaction and non-interaction. Often the basis of the works of Pevernazh are topics such as alienation, isolation, anxiety, and insecurity. Pevernazhi sees painting as a semiotic experience.

Details and trifles that surround us and form the structure with which we comprehend the world are the cornerstones of Pevernazhi's work. The artist often transfers events extracted from the depths of collective memory onto the canvas. His artistic method is to hide the subject in a special environment.

Pevernazh’s creativity does not lend itself to classification: it is likely that several currents at once reach their climax. The characters are integrated into the environment through geometric lines and a compositional plane. Figurativeness and abstractionism, forced by the artist to a compromise, highlight various emotions and images.

An important role is played by the applied materials and methods of applying color. Sand and metal filings give the Pernage paintings a special texture and a peculiar light. The dialectical approach of the artist to the concepts of presence and absence is indicative, contributing to the creation of the desired visual and mental stress.

• “Eric Pevernagi is known primarily for the fact that he combines figurative and abstract elements in his works. Starting with an ordinary geometric sketch or graffiti, he builds a surface from ash, sand, metal shavings. " (Auction house Doyle New York ) ^[1]
• “In the center of his works is a man. A person integrated into the natural environment, and sometimes absorbed by it. On the other hand, he apparently denies this when graffiti appears in the paintings. Thus, the artist shows the loneliness and estrangement of man in the midst of the city. ” (Dictionary of Artists Benezi, Paris ) ^[2]
• “Building bridges between generations, social strata and nations is not an easy task. Nevertheless, Eric Pevernagi deduced a formula by which we can free ourselves from alienation. " ( International Herald Tribune ) ^[3]
• “By denying any physical presence of the character and simply leaving evidence of his existence, the artist reproduces the very foundation of reason. His antihero decided to create an untouched mind, getting rid of all acquired, dubious qualities. " (Christie's Auction House Catalog, New York ) ^[4]
• “The artist’s thought, like a ray of light in the fog of human nature, draws our attention to the fragment that calls us to comprehend the universe. This element is chosen as the cornerstone of future knowledge, which will lead to the development of human perception and conscience. Pevernazhi offers us the first details of the puzzle lying on our way. He stops time, as if revealing a password, behind which eternity hides. The artist’s philosophical approach to the concept of essence is becoming increasingly material thanks to the technical properties of the work: the plane of perspective, geometry of shapes, narrow color range, the use of material elements - sand, metal ... all this somehow reminds of Egyptian art, art based on the language of signs and symbols intended for the study and interpretation of secrets. " (R. Puvia, London ) ^[5]
• “In his works, this Belgian artist combines images and architectural spaces with colored geometric surfaces. Sand and metal shavings give its canvases a special relief and immerse individual elements of the picture in a clear, moderate color space in the reflection of light. ” (Ketterer, Hamburg ) ^[6]
• “The person present in all his works is harmoniously reduced. Dissolving on the canvas, dim features and figures leave space for additional details that are highlighted by the artist as if they were images. This theme fills all the paintings of Eric Pevernagi and gives energy to the ideas of his works. Metal, aluminum, sand. The stiffness of the paintings blends perfectly with the long fading lines and sharp corners of the images. ” (M. Ladavez) ^[7]
• “A typical contemporary artist, combining abstract and figurative elements in his works. Pernajna begins with an idea that he expresses by plastic means. Representing in this way a disordered and unreliable world, he asks questions that the viewer interprets at his discretion. ” (Paul Piron, Brussels ) ^[8]
• “The artist mixes imagery and abstraction in a poetic and philosophical manner. Framing, intersection points, surface balance are important. Foreign materials (ashes, sand, metal filings, etc.) give the paintings strangeness and rigidity, as if the artist marks them with traces of the past. ” (Artaud) ^[9]
• “Continuously listening to the world around him, Eric Pevernagi gives the leading role in his paintings to an ordinary person. The artist places the personality in its own medium, which is sometimes transmitted using graffiti, and it seems to be absorbed, dissolved among the elements surrounding it. The elusive strokes of color, half abstract, half figurative forms and a peculiar frame lead to the dissolution of a person whose life seems no more than superficial. Pernage invites us to overcome the imaginary barriers behind which lies the mystery of his characters. Heroes of the artist are in eternal tension, as if expecting something else, a completely different life. " (VIF - Express) ^[10]
• “On the basis of some event extracted from the depths of collective memory, Pevernagi in his own way depicts an extremely unprotected world. In a half-figurative, half-abstract manner, he combines particles of earth, sand and metal on his canvases, using calm beige, gray, velvet-red tones. He begins with ordinary graffiti, a sketch of a human figure or detail of everyday life. They are used as an excuse to cover the canvas with a net of clean, well-structured geometric lines that evoke certain emotions. The names of the pictures are likened to instants. The viewer interprets them based on their own feelings. Interpretations are possible to one degree or another. The ideas of the artist’s works are striking. He asks questions. Pevernazhi considers life from different angles, and painting serves him as a means of expressing them. The brush helps to avoid obstacles, the color opens the way for thought. ” (Ray Berto) ^[11]
• “The images of Eric Pevernagi are absorbed by his environment through color, lines and ideas, which is most important in his work. The artist begins with an idea and depicts it. In the paintings of Pevernazh, we see the problems that occupy him, and we are persecuted. He draws alienation, loneliness, anxiety, insecurity. Eric Pevernagi creates throughout the life of a generation. Our world is rotting, falling apart, becoming unreliable and elusive. But art and poetry are eternal. Eric Pevernazh's works cause deep excitement. He introduces us to a completely different universe, different from the recognizable reality. We can interpret this universe in our own way. With his work, Pevernazhi asks questions. He possesses a vision of the world and man. Captures the themes chosen by the artist and the ways of their embodiment. Turning around is changing our worldview. ” (V. Tubosh) ^[12]
• “What amazes me and alienates is not so much the idea of ​​the works as the form perceived by the viewer. The artist, obviously, begins with some situation from everyday life. Form, structure demonstrate themselves, creating some kind of anxiety. The canvas is almost empty. No cumbersome parts. No technical tricks apply. I believe that the artist is inspired by precisely those details and little things that surround us and form the structure of our worldview. These objects replace many people with the inner world. ” (L. Krasnova) ^[13]

• Eric Pevernagi
• Pevernagieerik.jimdo.com
• Zeitgeist (video)
• Painting and Ideas (video)
• Absence and Presence (video)
• Phenomenological Painting (video)
• Absence of Desire (video)
• Wittgenstein and Happiness (video)
• Derrida and deconstruction (video)
• Heaviness and lightness of being (video)
• Art philosopher Willem Elias (video)
• Paper Boats, Rosebuds, Madeleines, Strawberry fields (video)
• Beauty, John Keats, Immanuel Kant (video)
• Thomas Mann, Shakespeare, Voltaire and Peggy Lee * Disillusionment (Video)
• Sigmund Freud - Alberto Moravia * Envy (video)
• Goodreads: Erik Pevernagie Quotes [1]
• Literary Quotes Pevernagie [2]
• Quotes of Pevernagie selected and illustrated by his readers [3]
• About the philosophy of the Painting of Pevernagie [4]

1. ↑ Doyle Auction House, Catalog, May 6, 2004 page 49
2. ↑ Dictionary of Artists Benezi, 1999, Tome10, page 824
3. ↑ International Herald Tribune, Sjöby, Jan, October 18, 1973
4. ↑ Christie's Auction House Catalog, Catalog 1615.10-11 January 2006, page e 18
5. ↑ R. Puvia, Eric Pevernagi Website
6. ↑ Ketterer, Catalog 278, 28. March 2003, n ° 554
7. ↑ Ladavez, Last hours,, February 11, 2002
8. ↑ Paul Piron, Art in Belgium 1068
9. ↑ Artaud, Dictionary, 2000, kz, page 220
10. ↑ VIF - Express, February 1997
11. ↑ Rey-Berto, February 22, 2002
12. ↑ W. Tubosh, Eric Pevernazhi Website
13. ↑ L. Krasnov, Eric Pevernazhi Website