Harlequinade Painting

GÉRALD WEBER was born in the South of France on the edge of Provence where he grew up until age 11 before immigrating to Canada with his parents. He started drawing and sketched at an early age and was also very interested in architecture. In high school, in Montreal, he took technical drawing classes and, as a teenager, he initially wanted to be an architect. He also took a few art courses at CEGEP level. However, Gérald went on to business school and graduated with an MBA in Finance leading to a career in management in large international organizations. He, however, continued to work on his art and develop his style in parallel. His work is rooted in his early interest in architecture and design and the exactness of floor plans and blueprints. Further influenced by the work of Vassily Kandinsky, Fernand Léger and Marc Chagall as well the Plasticiens movement of the 50’s and 60’s, he naturally evolved to Geometric Abstraction. Thus, Gérald’s compositions are often inspired by architecture, integrating building parts, whether based on external views, interiors or parts thereof. He combines them with other geometric elements and shapes to create imaginative two-dimensional and three-dimensional visions. To achieve the desired effect, each of Gérald’s compositions requires a substantial research and conceptual work before reaching the execution stage. Typically, once the initial inspiration happens (wether a picture, an actual observation, or a totally imagined image) Gerald starts with rough freehand drawings. The idea is to put the inspirational spark to paper. Then follows a process of several iterations to complete the vision, position the subject or subjects optimally, add other geometric elements if needed to ensure balance of composition etc... Once this is achieved, a precise drawing to scale of the canvas selected is created. Adjustments are then made if needed to get to a final final... At that stage the colours are selected through a process of iterations taking into account the mood and feel desired. Once this crucial activity is completed, the drawing is precisely transposed onto canvas. In the final stage the actual painting takes place, the mixing of colours and applying the paint in a very flat smooth manner to the surfaces. Gerald's work is of extreme precision with very crisp edges and clean lines. Gérald paints in acrylic mainly on canvas but also on plexiglass. Some of his compositions contain plaster areas.