Love lives on

WAY BACK in 1990, when we were married in Paris, we saw Daniel Levigoureux’s paintings in a gallery on rue Jacob, on the Left Bank. Gallery hours being flexible as they are, we never managed to find Galerie Philippe Fregnac open again while we were there. But we had a postcard, and the work stayed with us. Finally, three years later, we tracked down Daniel in a small town in the north of France and bought the painting we had treasured on the postcard.

Now, many years later, I have a gallery of my own and things have come full circle. I am pleased to present Daniel Levigoureux’s work in San Francisco.

— THOMAS REYNOLDS

Like a silent wave

FRENCH PAINTER Daniel Levigoureux’s work won’t remind you of France right away. Mood and a sense of locale is conveyed through the artist’s interest in color and geometry, much like American artist Charles Sheeler. It’s surprising how inviting the artist has made plainness and simplicity.

Une cabine | Daniel Levigoureux

Like Mondrian’s assembly of painted squares and rectangles, Levigoureux paints beachside apartments as delightful geometry. Cool and warm grays set off tropical blue window shades, copper tan roofs speak to cherry red roofs, and solid black recesses smack the wading viewer back to the painting’s surface, like a silent wave.

For such overall flat paintings, the artist packs an extra punch when he tickles your perception and sense of depth. Amidst forms defined by solid color, he selectively guides the viewer to more realistically rendered objects. Juxtaposed against flat shapes, the sudden roundness of a lighthouse makes it mysteriously real, even universal. Like all of Levigoureux’s paintings, they could be anywhere, any ocean, any vacation, even the coast of France.

— JENNIFER SIEGAL
The New Fillmore