Jordi Fornies exhibition at Filmbase - Olivier Cornet Gallery

Apparently, passersby were going "WOW" around Filmbase on Monday, when they were hanging Jordi Fornies's paintings for his current exhibition, Espacios, curated by the Olivier Cornet Gallery.

I was at the opening of the exhibition last night, and I was certainly wowed. I had already seen Mr. Fornies's smaller works, as they were on show at the Olivier Cornet Gallery last week, and I had seen photographs of the bigger pieces on Facebook. But you have to see them in the flesh! Even with the crowds there, blocking the view, those pieces are impressive.

But it's the textures I love about his work, the layering, the scratching, the gold leaf. And the colours, the reds, the golds, the greens, most of them rendered in encaustic (which I think is a mixing of beeswax and pigments, applied hot - it's so vibrant). I would love to have big big walls to accommodate pieces like "Enchanted Moment", "Memories of our Dawn" or "A Quiet Conversation" (pictured here, with Jordi Fornies). But the smaller pieces are equally striking - I love "The Sixteen Necessary Steps", a set of colourful squares that look to be emerging from an icy cavern or frothy water, or from the fog of time.

There are paintings for all pockets - the "Fragment" series, 9x9cm, enamel, oil, resin and gold leaf on aluminium plate, is gorgeous, and quite affordable.

We picked up an exhibition catalog - with beautiful photographs of the works on display (though note that some of the colours are not quite true to the originals), and a CD of the music especially composed by Mark Hennessy to evoke some of the paintings from this stunning collection. We listened to the CD when we got home last night, while flicking through the catalog - beautiful music to go with beautiful paintings. A fantastic idea to weave music in to enhance the experience!

Espacios is on show at Filmbase, Curved Street, Temple Bar, until the 16th of December. Don't miss it!