MARTIN FREGEAU

In the Studio

Time-lapse of the painting process

Excerpt from the Studio Journal

Reflections and notes from the painting process

« Some light illuminates a place. Other light illuminates a memory.

During a late-afternoon walk through a quiet neighbourhood in Venice, away from the large crowds and the most heavily travelled tourist routes, I came across this modest little bridge. There was nothing remarkable about it. No famous monument. No spectacular view. No gondolier singing for the benefit of visitors. And yet, I stayed there. For a long time.

My attention had been caught by something much simpler: the light.

Beneath the bridge’s arch, the water reflected the late-afternoon sun with an almost unreal softness. The movement of the canal transformed the reflections into a kind of silent dance that seemed to constantly reinvent itself. I remember watching the scene for several minutes without even thinking about taking out my camera. To be honest, I hesitated. I felt that the photograph would inevitably betray what I was seeing. As if the camera were incapable of capturing that feeling of absolute calm. As if the light belonged more to the moment than to the image. And then, eventually, I gave in.

While revisiting my travel archives, this image resurfaced almost by chance. Immediately, the memory of that late afternoon returned. The light. The silence. The strange feeling of having discovered a place that was waiting for no one. And so I committed another act of folly. I decided to paint it

This light that transforms an ordinary place into an extraordinary memory

This light that lasted only a few minutes but, strangely enough, survived for more than ten years in a corner of my memory. In the end, this painting may be less a view of Venice than an attempt to hold on to something that, by its very nature, refuses to be held. »