This Winter, Galerie Derouillon Presents Alex Foxton’s “Swoon” Paintings in Paris
On January 4 in Paris, Galerie Derouillon unveiled the latest exhibition by artist Alex Foxton, titled “Swoon,” on view through February 24. Born in England and based in Paris, the ever-inspired painter and fashion designer capsizes deep-rooted notions of masculinity by bringing to light the intricate nuances of Western culture’s prominent heroes and fantastical characters. In seductive tones of violet, teal, crimson, cobalt, and rose, dynamic paintings of ravishing figures in spirited moments of meditation, calculation, lust, and suffering unfold. As visitors journey through potent imagery of young sailors, soldiers, and fair Apollo—the storied god of light, poetry, and prophecy—a rhapsodic narrative imparts an enduring opera of security and peril in our world.
With bold homages to two legendary artworks, Titian’s Flaying of Marsyas (1550-1570) and Ribera’s Apollo and Marsyas (1637), in which the audacious satyr Marsyas challenges Apollo to a musical contest and is consequently skinned alive, Foxton deftly juxtaposes golden, euphoric youth with the cruel distortions and bewilderment of old age. In an effort to “paint all the cruelty in the world,” the artist allows the yin and yang of the iconic scene—and of our universe—to play out in disparate hues, fragmented bodies, and split canvases.
