Gilles Dyan Founder and Chairman Opera Gallery Group

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Silas Cross
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2 FOREWORD Mauro Corda Gérard Alary It is with pride and delight that we present a joint exhibition of works by contemporary virtuoso sculptor Mauro Corda and dark expressionist painter Gérard Alary in London for the first time. Mauro Corda is a true humanist. Influenced by the tradition and technique of classic sculpture masters, he renews the genre with innovative aesthetics and a sharp and disturbing yet benevolent look at the world surrounding him. His body of work finds itself somewhere between symbolism, naturalism and surrealism and tells us about the universal themes that affect and concern all humans: our physical limits in life and death and everything that comes in between. The expressionist paintings of Gérard Alary, on the other hand, take us on a journey in the after-life and beyond death, a real descent into hell. It is not the outer body that Alary looks into, but rather the structure that supports it all: the skeleton, the bones under the flesh. Dark and thick matter emerges from his work, highlighting the violence of his fears and distress. In this chaos, Alary drags us in the deepest of his turmoil and invites us to share the burden. Both artists works are presented in museums, art centres and public collections across the world. Opera Gallery has supported Mauro Corda for over a decade and we are thrilled to bring to you his sculptures alongside the paintings of Gérard Alary in this exhibition. Gilles Dyan Founder and Chairman Opera Gallery Group Jean-David Malat Director Opera Gallery London

3 Mauro Corda Born in Lourdes, France in 1960, Mauro Corda comes from a family of stonecutters with Italian origins. From an early age, he expressed interest in sculpture and he entered Reims École des Beaux-Arts at the age of 15, before pursuing his education at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Later, Corda was sent to the Villa Velásquez in Madrid; a rewarding experience that led him to exhibit in Paris and gain international recognition through exhibitions in Hong Kong, Chicago, Venice and Bologna. Mauro Corda pays homage to the greatest sculptors of history with his technique - a technique to which he instils movement and modernity by questioning his life-size pieces about identity and the limits of the human body. His ease with matter allows him to use various materials, such as bronze, aluminium, iron, marble and stainless steel. Corda s sculptures push boundaries and overthrow our certainties as they question the fragility of existence. Claiming that a piece that has no soul will have no shape, Corda s sculpture is a poetical expression creating an invisible world and giving shape to mystery. A true virtuoso, Corda inspires great humanity within his sculptures in order to convey his emotions and fears through the cold material.

4 Equine Remnant - Cast iron - 80 x 76 x 35 cm 31.5 x 29.9 x 13.8 in.

5 Outrage - Cast iron x 100 x 64 cm 68.1 x 39.4 x 25.2 in. Outrage II - Cast iron, plexiglas x 72 x 57 cm 82.7 x 28.3 x 22.4 in.

6 Contortionist IV - Bronze - 42 cm 16.5 in. Contortionist XV - Bronze x 30 x 30 cm 41.7 x 11.8 x 11.8 in.

7 A Couple s Life - Bronze - 70 x 64 x 31,5 cm 27.6 x 25.2 x 12.4 in.

8 Pollution - Bronze, iron x 58 cm 78.7 x 22.8 in. Split Man / Robot - Resin, plexiglas, stainless steel x 80 x 80 cm 79.9 x 31.5 x 31.5 in.

9 The Mosquito Aluminium 59 x 50 x 29 cm 23.2 x 19.7 x 11.4 in.

10 Contortionist in a Circle - White bronze - D: 206 cm 81.1 in. Contortionist Chair - Resin x 71 x 40 cm 44.5 x 27.9 x 15.7 in.

11 Woman Diving - Aluminium - H: 237 cm 93.3 in. Man Diving - Aluminium - H: 237 cm 93.3 in.

12 Lust Man - Bronze, stainless steel - 67 x 40 x 8.5 cm 26.4 x 15.7 x 3.3 in. Man 3 - Resin, plexiglas - 52 x 44 x 44 cm 20.5 x 17.3 x 17.3 in.

13 Nightmare II - Resin, stainless steel x 81 x 67 cm 50.4 x 31.9 x 26.4 in.

14 Contortionist I - Bronze x 60 x 56 cm 41.3 x 23.6 x 22 in. The Doll - Bronze, glass x 48 x 35 cm 57.5 x 18.9 x 13.8 in.

15 The column Resin, iron, stainless steel, led 300 x 80 x 60 cm x 31.5 x 23.6 in.

16 Fakir - Bronze, stainless steel x 236 x 60 cm x 92.9 x 23.6 in. The Reliquary - Guilded bronze, syringe, resin - 67 x 24 x 20 cm 26.4 x 9.4 x 7.9 in.

17 Barbet - Nickel-plated bronze, stainless steel - 72 x 62 x 60cm 28.3 x 24.4 x 23.6 in. Fashion I - Nickel-plated bronze - H: 230 cm 90.6 in.

18 Gérard Alary Gérard Alary is a painter born in 1945 in Avignon, France. A graduate from the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, his first solo exhibition took place in Dijon and was a great success. In 1995, he put his career on hold to become a professor at Dijon s École des Beaux-Arts and it is not until 2005 that he returned to painting for an exhibition at the Centre d Art Contemporain of La Seyne-sur-Mer. Several exhibitions followed, always in strongly spiritual and symbolical sites, such as the Vieille Charité Museum in Marseille in The noteworthy exhibitions approach personal themes thanks to which Alary renews contact with the joys of painting, depicting the human body and the individual in powerful expressionism that oscillates between figuration and non-representation as per the artist s own words. Dark and thick matter emerges from Alary s Vanitas, in which he depicts the bone rather than the flesh and death rather than life, highlighting the violence of the artist s fears and distress. In the chaos telling us of the end of our human condition and the erasure of ours lives since birth, we face a brutality that would drag one down to hell inside the deepest of the artist s turmoil. Gérard Alary s works are presented in multiple museums, art centres and public collections in France and abroad.

19 Visage dans la nuit, Oil on canvas x 150 cm 59.1 x 59.1 in.

20 Les Anonymes, Ink on paper - 50 x 50 cm 19.7 x 19.7 in. Untitled, Oil on canvas x 130 cm 51.2 x 51.2 in.

21 Portrait Saint-Soleil II, Ink on paper x 130 cm 51.2 x 51.2 in. Les Veuves II, Oil on canvas x 160 cm 63 x 63 in.

22 Portrait 2 - Acrylic on canvas - 50 x 50 cm 19.7 x 19.7 in.

23 Untitled, Oil on canvas - 50 x 50 cm 19.7 x 19.7 in. Matière et existence, Ink on paper - 50 x 50 cm 19.7 x 19.7 in.

24 Tondo Feu, Oil on canvas - D: 300 cm in.

25 Untitled, Oil on canvas x 200 cm 78.7 x 78.7 in.

26 Tondo Vedoler, Oil on canvas - D: 300 cm in. Paillasson hallucinogène, Oil on canvas x 300 cm x in.

27 Autoportrait en noir, Acrylic on canvas x 300 cm x in.

28 Les Anonymes, Ink on paper x 140 cm 55.1 x 55.1 in. Matière et existence, Oil on canvas x 200 cm 78.7 x 78.7 in.

29 Tondo, Oil on canvas - D: 300 cm in.

30 Nudité, Acrylic on canvas x 150 cm 59.1 x 59.1 in. Tondo Angelo, Oil on canvas - D: 300 cm in.

31 Untitled, Acrylic on canvas - 50 x 50 cm 19.7 x 19.7 in.

32 Les Anonymes, Ink on paper - 50 x 50 cm 19.7 x 19.7 in. Untitled, Oil in canvas - D: 150 cm 59.1 in.

Les Anonymes, 70-2012 - Ink on paper - 140 x 140 cm 55.1 x 55.1 in.

33 Les Anonymes, Ink on paper x 140 cm 55.1 x 55.1 in , N e w B o n d S t r e e t, W 1 S 2 T F L o n d o n. T ( 0 ) l o n d o o p e r a g a l l e r y. c o m.

CONTEMPORARY MASTERS

CONTEMPORARY MASTERS FOREWORD The second half of the 20th century was marked by one of the biggest breaks with the past ever to be witnessed in the history of art. For over 40 years indeed, it has been