Henri Alexander Levy celebrated the opening exhibition during PFW

Henri Alexander Levy Presents ‘Orphaned Works’ the opening exhibition during Paris Fashion Week

On Friday, June 23rd, Henri Alexander Levy (designer of Enfants Riches Déprimés) celebrated the opening of his ‘Orphaned Works’ exhibition in Paris during Men’s Fashion Week. The gallery, which consists of 24 original works, will remain open through July 4th. Orphaned Works is available for view at Galerie Raphael Durazzo – 23 Rue Du Cirque from 10AM to 7PM Monday to Friday and 10AM to 6PM Saturday.

Through ‘Orphaned Works’, Henri Alexander Levy paints expelling what is inside his subconscious mind. The act is painful, with a constant struggle between internal violence and restraint in composition. In order to numb traumas, the painter creates a pure and minimalistic chaos. This duality can be seen in the color palette, confronting darkness with light, sorrow with beauty.

Shapes are emerging from the black, trying to expand, but seem condemned to a prenatal state. Red or white embryos of life, sometimes producing protuberances, inevitably brought back to the black canvas. Nourished by psychology, influenced by Art brut, the artist finds his inspiration in non-institutional art practices, collecting works made by prisoners and marginals.

Mixing multiple mediums, adding textures, destroying and rebuilding layers, Levy invents his own language. When he integrates a piece of cloth that has fallen from his wrist into the canvas, the fabric does not turn into art, it is just another sign isolated in the painting. Stuck between two dimensions, the sign embodies the bridge leading to buried memories. This has to be understood as a metaphor for an alternative path, an undefined space between childhood and adulthood, where people become orphans by rejecting any social and cultural structures. As a result, Levy paints on the ruins left by repression.