I create singular metaphoric compositions using saturated acrylic colours, applied in hard-edge, on medium and large-size canvases.

When I working in France, I focused on the theme of visual memory, graphic codes and their link with (so-called) “Primitive” expression.

My more recent body of work created in Canada, ”Inner Worlds”, is based on that background, and explores the additional dimension of
cultural context, and how it is perceived and integrated in a technologically advanced society.

Each painting and its title introduces a virtual story that deprives the spectator of its cultural references.
This playful de-possession symbolizes the attitude generally adopted when faced with the surprise of the unknown.
It leads the witness to experience a new reading logic, a perspective similar to the one we must accept in order to understand, adapt and enjoy the mutation of our society.

Mankind Passage

 

Tales of the Rainforest

Creation is first and foremost an act of survival.

 

Since childhood, I was always a dreamer and would loose myself in the Art that surrounded me. It was certainly an escape from a reality I found too harsh and in which I struggled to belong. That’s how I developed an iron will to paint what no one had painted before, and to create a unique aesthetic proposition that would feed me, make me travel the World, and bring me the joy of sharing my vision with others.

 

My paintings are all hand-made Hard-edge acrylic. In their distinctive language of geometric and organic shapes, they narrate stories, encounters between probable beings from unconscious universes, sensations and landscapes that can be alternatively aquatic, aerial or virtual. I transform and colour my environment relative to this personal mythology.

 

My creations expose the concept of the two infinites, visible and invisible, and offer a positive perspective to our condition in a world bound by endless questioning. The creative process itself allows me to explore and exteriorise my philosophical and mystic interrogations.

 

Canada and the diversity of its contrast has been a fresh source of inspiration these past few years. Notably, it materialized in “Tales of the Rainforest”, a contemporary picturesque poem rich with the dreams and hopes that characterize this land.

 

What is it about the light in the south of France that has transfixed so many artists?

 

Van Gogh wrote about its « energy » and lost his balance trying to harness it.  Its abundance and intensity, its purity, led such forward-thinking artists as Cezanne, Gauguin, Monet and Matisse to alter their approach to depicting colour and form in their work.  Shadows were cut away as is with a sharp knife and the landscape was reduced to elemental forms.  In the centuries-old villages Aix, Arles, Collioure and Giverny, modern art was born.

 

            Coming of age as an artist in Toulouse, France, Philippe Sokazo fell under the sway of this light, this way of seeing.  While his hard-edged painting style has echoes of Matisse’s late work , particularly his cut out paper shapes . Sokazo has brought a broader narrative dynamic to these abstractions.  As well, having moved to Vancouver in 2005, Sokazo was introduced to the cultural traditions of First Nations art whereby such « characters » as the raven and eagle assume an identity beyond their earthly selves. 

In Sokazo’s world, his strongly-coloured shapes may suggest mythical creatures such as the hipposnagon and the snearthquake, creations of a very fanciful artistic imagination. 

 

            Still, it is colour and form that are most at play here.  While no longer under the influence of the French sun, Philippe Sokazo still beguiles the viewer with brilliant colours.  For his solo exhibition at Snap Contemporary Art titled « Pure », Sokazo presents a series of dazzling new paintings.  It is in the « qacontrasts and dissonances » (as Sonia Delaunay wrote originally of fauvism) of all these pure colours that Sokazo achieves his goal of electrifying his surfaces.  After all these years, the energy of light and colour is still to be harnessed to a canvas.

 

 

Barry Dumka

currator and gallery owner

Snap contemporary Art Gallery

Vancouver

 

SoulShine !

"I was born in a cross fire hurricane"...Crossing the ocean to express my art, and positive attitude !

I am painter living closer to the Pacific ocean right here for building a better future !

Be curious, have a look on www.sokazo.com to know  more about my Art...

 

Jusqu’à présent la question de ma démarche artistique ainsi que du sujet de ma peinture demeurait confuse et complexe : il m’était plus facile de parler de ma technique et des particularités visibles de mon Art.

C’est en me questionnant sur l’existence d’un lien possible entre les Arts Premiers, qui me bouleversent depuis toujours, et ma passion pour l’iconographie contemporaine, que j’allais comprendre l’essence de mon oeuvre.

Le graphisme avant tout était le point de départ de mon interrogation : des peintures rupestres à celles des aborigènes d’Australie, la couleur n’était pas le facteur le plus déterminant.

La force des dessins, ainsi que leur composition étaient bien plus intéressants.

Dans mon travail, je recherche également en permanence l’impact visuel, ainsi que l’équilibre du dessin, pour apporter à son spectateur une émotion.

C’est en étudiant les pétroglyphes de l’île de Quadra (Colombie-Britannique) que j’ai commencé à comprendre.

La phrase du Conservateur en Chef du Patrimoine Denis Milhau à propos de ma peinture resurgit en moi à la vue des roches gravées : " une oeuvre complexe sous une apparente simplicité ". En effet, mon premier contact avec les pétroglyphes fut d’admettre que leur simplicité n’était dans ce cas aussi qu’une apparence. Le graphisme était également codé, iconique, au-delà de la simple figuration.

En visitant ces lieux sacrés, habités par ces pierres gravées, il était impossible de ne pas éprouver du respect et de l’admiration : le mystère de la nature était renforcé par cette silencieuse présence. L’acte de création était ici présenté dans son expression première la plus pure. Elle connectait l’Homme et son environnement aux esprits et à l’Univers…

Quand je travaille à mon oeuvre, je partage la même exigence : celle de connecter mon travail au-delà des pièges du monde moderne, concentré sur son fondement et sa contribution à notre société.

En plus de son univers coloré, mes créations par leur graphisme et compositions puisent dans l’inconscient collectif brut, pour nous connecter à nouveau au coeur du Mystère de notre existence et de ses liens avec les infinis.

Cette prise de conscience éclaire et renforce le fondement de mon Art, m’offrant l’opportunité d’une expression libre et affranchie, explorant de nouveaux horizons vers de nouveaux défis .

 (English translation in progress ! )