Denis Ribas — Denis Ribas

Catalan by origin, Denis Ribas grew up in these wild lands which have been home to so many Painters, Writers and other Artists. From an early age, after a few hours spent at the Beaux Arts in Perpignan with the Painter Germain Bonnel, he learned alone or with his father to understand and observe nature. In Denis Ribas, we find a curious alchemy between sport (he was vice champion of France in the 4x400m relay in 1978), literature, travel, and a respectful observation of nature.

Denis Ribas is, first and foremost, a landscape painter. He was close to the Impressionist school, painting only outdoors, on site, without retouching in the studio, using pure colors applied with a brush, his theme being Provence. Later, reconnecting with his Catalan origins and the landscapes of Céret, he broadened his landscape horizon. His works are often compared to those of Vincent Van Gogh, due to the subjects which were for a long time Provençal, the strength in his use of color, the significant contrasts, and the vigorous brushstrokes.

He evolved to move away from figurative landscape towards a more personal, more Expressionist style, reminiscent of André Lhote’s discovery of the south of France. Through violent chromatism, his work recalls the Fauvism of Georges Braque’s early landscapes, no longer associated with nature itself, but with the artist’s feelings in the face of its beauty or violence. Denis Ribas enjoys painting in extreme situations, as a challenge he sets himself to capture « the thread of that light ».

For about ten years now, this self-taught artist has succeeded in inventing his own language on his always luminous canvases. In a kind of reversal, it seems that the landscapes close in on themselves, the skies shrink, occupying only a small part of the canvas. With broad, thick strokes, the ground, the earth, the shadows cast upon them find an abstract expression in the foreground. Trees or other plant elements are often vigorous, sharply defined, sinuous, structured, and present through long brushstrokes that guide the viewer’s eye toward the ray of light piercing to the very edge of the canvas’s field of vision.

A lot of energy, power, but also tenderness define the paintings of Denis Ribas. There is never a drawing at the start of the design of a painting. A little Expressionism and Fauvism characterize a style where concentration and the emotion of the gaze are carried to their paroxysm. His artwork is intense, vigorous, almost explosive. Once the work is finished, the signature is discreet, almost erased: « The artist is the one who, via his vision, embellishes a work. I am but only the painter who never knows the beauty of what he has just created. »

As soon as the Painter has chosen his motif, depending on the different planes, the time chosen (the light), the contrasts and the colors presented, he sets up his easel and « layers » onto the linen in a single execution this representation of the landscape he has already created in his mind. The colors, the differences in tone come by themselves.

Even though Denis Ribas claims to make a painting without a message, when he says « it is this impression of eternity that appeals to me in nature, an incredible force », his simple landscapes and Expressionist works allow everyone to perceive and feel this force, which gives hope.

Thus, Denis Ribas, a generous and free artist, is close to a Fauve; he paints the enjoyment of nature.

HIS WORDS

It is this impression of eternity that appeals to me in Nature. An incredible force.

Everything is said there and nothing remains to be said. It has become the source from which I quench my thirst.

It admirably reconciles realism and idealism. My painting is but an excuse to rediscover it.

It is incredible how the sight of a tree or a patch of sky speaks to me and can soothe me.

BOTICELLI painted the sky on his knees to thank it; I paint it standing so that it may thank me.

In Art, to judge a work, the only thing that matters is to determine whether the thing is strong.

My life has always been subject to this duty of being incandescent, to this hatred of lukewarmness.

Habit, the daily grind, dulls me.

One must forget the perspective of rest, constantly regenerate what threatens to be fossilized by familiarity.

We may not all agree on the choice of life, but we agree on the way to live it: it must be intense—intensely!

Renounce intensity? But for what purpose? To be wiser?

I have never liked opening my mail, but on the other hand, I have always wanted to open books. Perhaps because I knew in advance what was in my mail and not in books.

My canvases, when I paint them, are books that I discover. And I want the viewers to be the readers of my canvases.