Convoi Exceptionnel

Load: oversized. Christopher Jewitt delivers dense, polychromatic compositions that live somewhere between abstract and figurative art.

Trucks all over France display the words convoi exceptionnel to warn motorists. Attention! You’re sharing the road with a heavy, abnormal object. Lost in the buzz of transit.

Extracting meaning from the commotion of colours and routes in Convoi Exceptionnel can be challenging. But airbrushed figures are the simple, poetical foundation. These figures gain elusive agency through an intuition for expressive mark-making.

This work involves a series of discrete stages, employing airbrush, marker, caulking gun and oil brush. The abrasions and agreements between these layers constructs a heavy, vibrational visual story.

The careful balance of forms and orientation within each frame is indispensable to Jewitt’s craft. Tiny pockets of negative space are preserved throughout, allowing intricacies and groupings to coexist. Exposed canvas is an exceptional feature of his paintings.

Colours and shapes combine with childish boldness in Convoi Exceptionnel. The pieces convey an unashamedly naive interplay of materials. Objects can appear flat, simple-minded, blockish. But the movement between the bare and the complicated is the strongest premise of the work.

– Exhibition statement by Dave Latimer