Multiple, by Gil bruvelGil Bruvel's work is otherworldly. His artwork references a mystical, circus-like environment, full of fantastic jugglers, women balancing on the backs of majestic horses, masked lovelies lounging while he paints their portraits. His paintings remind me of vignettes from an abstract ballet, with stages set in slightly twisted yet welcoming landscapes.
His sculptures bring fantasy into the physical realm, as with the life-sized mermaid that will be on display this week at Lahaina Galleries in the Old Mill.
His functional sculptures are the furniture of a wine-soaked dream: a bench titled "Found in Oz" implies that the artist doesn't just imagine other worlds … he goes to them often. How does one artist ask to be invited on a tour to the 'other worlds' of another artist, especially over the phone? It's a touchy subject to ask an artist about his influences, even touchier to assume such influences exist, but Bruvel's paintings are unabashedly surrealist, a modern tradition that has influenced music, literature and film. That was the starting point of our conversation.
"I, of course, was fascinated with the surrealists: Dali, Max Ernst, Miro-but also Klee and Kandinsky for compositions," Bruvel answers with a French accent that makes the conversation feel quite cosmopolitan.
