Denis Grue

Type of Work: Acrylic; Acrylic and India Ink; Acrylic and Oil

Contact Information

Email: mqprooniebird@hotmail.com

Website: www.denisphila.com

Biography

It’s been said that I was born with a hand for art and an ear for music.
As a youngster growing up in Southwest France, I became engrossed in the visual arts through private study with an association of regional artists. (Mairie du Fumel 1969-76)
I developed and refined my musical expression with 10 years of private study of the accordion, under the tutelage of Professor Hugo Giarardelli, Agen, France.
As a young man, I studied innovative industrial design and manufacturing, earning a Diploma from the renowned Saint Gobain-Pont a Mousson, Bureau of Studies, Fumel, France (1977-83). (Saint-Gobain, a French multinational corporation, has a long and glorious history, tracing its origins to 1665, when the Manufacture Royale de Glace was founded under Louis XIV. Plunging into modernity, the Saint-Gobain-Pont a Mousson factory produced iron structures used in the Centre Pompidou "Beaubourg", Paris.)
My Saint-Gobain diploma in hand, I worked in various industrial sectors. Despite the constraints on industrial design that existed at the time, I managed to achieve a certain technical brilliance.
While working in industry, I felt increasingly drawn to the performing arts. I moved to Paris to engage in theatre arts, earning a Diploma in Sound from the Association of Artists and Technicians Spectacles, Paris, France, (1996). There, I worked in collaboration with the theatre lighting designer, Andre' Diot, renowned for his use of backlighting and shadows to create an onstage environment of chiaroscuro, and acclaimed for his stage lighting for French actress Jeanne Moreau.
These versatile artistic attainments and experiences culminated in a return to my roots in drawing and painting. Working primarily in acrylic paint, my artistic concepts reflect the influence of Kandinsky, Picasso, Braque, and Miro. Working in a freer form, using vibrant color, I create lines and curves without constraint, allowing just a hint of abstract form and figure. I strive to reconcile the essential and the ephemeral in images that are provocative, whimsical, and meditative. My work comprises the styles abstract figurative, abstract geometric, and abstract movement.

Exhibitions:
Carre' d'art, Cahors, France (2010)
Projects Gallery, Philadelphia PA (2011)
Alliance Francaise, Philadelphia, PA (2012;2014)
Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts, Winston Salem, NC. (2017; 2018)
Theatre Art Galleries (TAG) High Point, N.C. (Juried 2017)
Notre-Dame des Cordeliers, Gourdon (Lot) France (2018)
My work is held by private collectors and small business/corporate collectors.