Li Chevalier x Frédéric Laroque | Galerie 208

As part of the Asia NOW 2022 contemporary art fair, artist Li Chevalier and Frédéric Laroque, concertmaster of the Paris Opera, will perform a piece orchestrated by Gallery 208.

Frédéric Laroque, an exceptional soloist, will perform a piece by Johann Sebastian Bach, his incandescence echoing the theme "Bonfire" of this 8th edition of Asia Now as well as the cosmic works of the artist Li Chevalier.

Between two peregrinations, the artist Li Chevalier will honour us with her presence. Exhibited until 13 February 2022 at the Musée Départemental des Arts Asiatiques de Nice as part of the exhibition "Landscapes of the Soul - Modern and Contemporary Chinese Landscape Painting" alongside Chu Teh-Chun and Zao Wou-Ki, her work will be shown in various museums in Europe and internationally during 2023. The artist will talk about her creative process and the relationship she has maintained since her youth between painting and music. This privileged moment of sharing and reflection will also be the occasion for a book signing.

The collaboration of the two artists merges their works to create a natural dialogue between their respective disciplines, painting and music. The intensity of the violin solo resonates with the uncontrollable nature of the Indian ink and elegantly embraces Li Chevalier's delicate and monumental paintings. The artist Li Chevalier thus celebrates her first love, music.

At the age of 15, Li Chevalier joined the Chinese army's opera troupe to be trained as a singer. Music remains her life's passion. A. Oldham recruited Li Chevalier as a soprano in the choir of the Orchestre de Paris. She has performed regularly under the direction of Semyon Bychkov. Li Chevalier's work is thus full of musicality.

The artist has been collaborating for almost 20 years with the soloists of the Opéra Nationale de Paris and especially with Frédéric Laroque.

Her installation "Cantabile per archi" clearly shows the link between his work and music. This work is presented with the musical assistance of the National Symphony Orchestra of China, conducted by Philippe Jordan, on 3 July 2013 at the National Opera of China (NCPA). On the occasion of the opening of his work, Li Chevalier invited the soloist Frédéric Laroque to perform and improvise in the middle of the forest of violins making up the work. Since then, the two artists have maintained this artistic link between them.

Asia Now is a new opportunity to witness the musical setting of Li Chevalier's works by his faithful friend and soloist, Frédéric Laroque.

Friday, October 21: 11am - 1pm | Booth R01

Li CHEVALIER  

Li Chevalier, a French artist born in China in 1961, is part of the generation of Chinese artists who found their "promised land" in France in the 1980s. She found her artistic vocation in European capitals. First, in Paris, where she graduated from Sciences Po Paris and obtained a DEA in Political Philosophy from the Sorbonne in 1991. She then moved on to Florence, then London where she graduated from Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design, before being selected for the Royal Academy of Art's summer exhibition in London in 2007.  Working on large or monumental canvases incorporating a textured surface, Li Chevalier strives to create a new chapter in the thousand-year history of ink painting in an innovative way. She avoids realistic representations and minimises the use of brushes, magnifying the expressionist quality of the lyricism of water. Since 2010, Li Chevalier's major monographic exhibitions have been successively presented by the Museum of Contemporary Art in Rome, the National Museum of Fine Arts in China, the Today Art Museum in Beijing, the Shanghai Museum of Fine Arts, the National Opera House of China, the Siena Museum Complex and finally, as part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the France-China relationship, by the Base Sous-Marine in Bordeaux.  Also, two major paintings by the artist have been in the collection of the French Embassy in China since 2011, alongside works by Zao Wouki, Chu Tequn. 

Frédéric LAROQUE

Frédéric Laroque, First violin of the Paris Opera. Frédéric Laroque was born in 1964. Introduced to the violin at the age of six by his mother, he studied with André Proffit and Gérard Jarry at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. He obtained first prizes in violin and chamber music (in the class of Jean Hubeau). He studied with Arthur Grumiaux in Namur and spent a year in the United States, at the University of Bloomington, studying violin with Henryck Kowalski and chamber music with Menahem Pressler and Janos Starker.  He was concertmaster of the Orchestre de l'Opéra national de Paris and has also performed in chamber music ensembles ranging from trios to dextuos.  In 1994, he founded the Joachim Trio with Pierre Lenert and Cyrille Lacrouts. Their repertoire ranges from Mozart to contemporary composers. Always keen on chamber music, Frédéric Laroque joined the Gaudi Quartet in 2004, with whom he performs regularly in France and abroad, and in 2008, the Borsarello Trio. He is frequently invited for concerts in France and Europe as well as for recordings. In parallel to his career as an instrumentalist, Frédéric Laroque teaches at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris.