Guy Langevin

Decrepitude of Angels

On Tuesday, March 14th at 7pm the exhibition called „Decrepitude of Angels“ by Canadian artist Guy Langevin was open.

The exhibition was organized regarding the International Francophonie Day, with support of Embassy of Canada in Belgrade.

The series of prints „Decrepitude of Angels“ was inspired by motives from mythological and religious iconography. These works recall the story of Icarus and Daedalus and images of Fallen Angel, present in western art from renaissance until modern times. Depicted in the state of fall, metamorphosis from one into another shape of existence, they lose wings, and become human-like. Artist creates tonally balanced rhythms of shades, silhouettes, marks and traces of presence/absence of angels.

For Guy Langevin is typical work in technique of mezzotint, and this manière noire bares the essence of black-white contrasts in graphical composition. Mainly known for his work in mezzotint, he gives masterclasses of this technique in Canada and many countries worldwide.

Acording to the words of Richard Noyce, Falling of Angels is a visual metaphor of time we are living in, it is a metaphor of dualities in human nature and human experience, eternal struggle between light and darkness, faith and doubt, memory and obliviousness.

„Look at the Angels’ fall, they twilight, their decrepitude. During that fall, angels take shape, their bodies take shape, twist, deform, cry painfully. They will hurt the soil, they will hurt themselves but won’t die, it should be too easy, they will stay alive. Many of them are probably already between us, living as humans.“ (from artist’s statement).

Guy Langevin (1954, Québec, Canada) graduated from Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières in 1977, Guy Langevin have made more than 60 solo exhibitions in Quebec, Canada, U.S.A., France, Belgium, Portugal and Germany. He has participated to more than 300 group exhibitions, throughout the world, including approximately 100 international biennials or juried exhibitions. Prizes (selection): Grand Prize of the 7th Bharat Bhavan International Biennial, India 2006; Guanlan International Award, China 2009; First Prize at The 7th Ural Triennial, Russia 2013. Deeply involved in his cultural milieu, at the end of the 70’s, he participated to the creation of Atelier Presse Papier, a collective professional printmaking studio and he is one of the founders of the Biennale internationale d’estampe contemporaine de Trois-Rivières.