A French surrealist artist born in 1945, Jacques Resch became a physics and chemistry teacher while painting and drawing on the side. Resch’s works are strongly influenced by what he perceives as onrushing problems that plague the world such as pollution, political and social instability, poverty, and even the modern day insistence and obsession with technology. According to his biography, Resch prefers to create his work spontaneously with no edits, as it is his point of view that these errors show and emphasize the feebleness of human nature and the limits of the human creature. Indeed, at first glance many of Resch’s paintings are difficult to take in due to its multi-layered characteristics. Pieces such as the “Le Diabolo” depict people, none of whom look happy, living, perhaps imprisoned, inside distorted structures. In this painting the people have become an inseparable part of the very structure that they had created.
“Le Vagabond” by Jacques Resch
In “Le Vagabon” (above), a human figure is seen walking on stilts with a heavy load on his back. But as to who is in control of the body comes into question as two faces (one of an old man and another of a child) emerge from the man. The ground is littered with garbage which the man dutifully avoids using his wooden stilts while carrying his own rubbish on his back. Resch brings into question the manner in which perspective comes to play on how we define boundaries, especially when defining human progress. When viewing his works one begins to wonder as to the extent that the very objects and events that we have created and started have in turn defined our very existence and influenced our perception of the human condition.
Anthony Bornia