«Face To Face_ With Three Presences Of Edward Hopper’s Clown appearing In His Work “Blue Night” (1914)» Painting

"Face To Face" shows a man sitting in his room. It is a question of solitude: a privileged moment for some, a permanent moment of anguish for others. Patrick Gourgouillat places three paintings in this space. These are the famous clowns of the American painter Edward Hopper from his work entitled "Blue Night" from 1914. The artist interprets these three figures in the manner of Andy Warhol's silkscreen portraits. The setting of this scene evokes our contemporary era. Patrick Gourgouillat suspends time and gives his main character a moment of respite. The tumult of an urban existence is probably outside where we all play a role, we all wear a mask. This work, like a photographic cliché, focuses on the position of the human being in the face of the imperatives imposed on us by life in society. It is not the famous "To be or not to be" of the great William Shakespeare. Rather, "Face To Face" questions the crucial issue of "To be in appearance or to be simply oneself". In the foreground, Patrick Gourgouillat paints parallel lines (a recurring motif in his work). Is this his answer? This work was exhibited in March 2021 in a gallery in Saint-Etienne (France).