"The Comedy of Art" by Pablo RÉJAS

"The Commedia dell'arte" oil on canvas by Pablo Rejas. The commedia dell'arte reinterpreted by the artist. Oil on canvas. Signed and dated '73 on the back. 65 X 81 cm. Delivery only by Colissimo. The artist, a committed and passionate painter, a worker painter as he defined himself. A lot of violence in his painting and in the interpretation of faces or clenched fists. Famous in Sarcelles for having left a mural fresco and a large painting mixing religion and secularism. A street and a nursery bear his name. He was born in May; should we see this as a sign... Pablo Rejas defines himself as a worker painter. He was born to a Basque father and a Flemish mother in 1924. He began working on drawing in the schools of Montparnasse and Montmartre. This existence was interrupted by the years of war, which marked his character and his will to defend peace. He is above all a painter of man for peace. From his years of heroic resistance, he does not wish to draw any praise, decoration, or merit. From his tumultuous professional journey—diver, stevedore, docker, lumberjack, and his qualities as a healer—Pablo Rejas draws from the depths of the human soul. From the 1950s onwards, he began to participate in numerous exhibitions, alone or in groups, notably alongside Bernard Lorjou and Mottet. Drawing inspiration from a torn reality and his torments regarding a humanity that is capsizing, Pablo Rejas presents us with a frank and painful painting, passionate and troubled. As expressed by art critic Gérard Xuriguera, "the painting of Pablo Rejas is difficult and demanding. It urges humility and encourages us to look at ourselves without complacency, as we refuse to imagine ourselves. A painting that does not concern itself with anecdotal verisimilitude or esoteric speculation; it invests us and constrains us by the only forces it emits."