Regardless of whether they are abstract or figurative, the artworks by Vidal translate from their belonging to urbanity, to the nightlife … traces and fragments imprinted in the imagination of the artist where he draws skillfully. The electric and saturated colours of his compositions and the energy of the stroke reveal Vidal’s special attachment to his home town and his imaginary world.
Each realization of Vidal is marked by an emotive vibration with strong evocative power. It is the affect of the moment that motivates his creative gesture. Thus, he paints or draws intuitively, releasing his soul from any hindrance, hence the singular expressiveness and energy of each of his oeuvres.
It is probably because Vidal sees himself primarily as a colourist that the trait is of importance only for the effect it will produce while colour predominates. It is frank, bright, contrasting and saturated. The pictorial explorations of the artist claim a filiation with great currents, such as Fauvism, by their attachment to the colour and its force of expressivity. Besides the rich colours, Vidal particularly appreciates the use of blacks and whites for their dramatic quality.
For the representation of the human figure, Vidal likes to translate the energy infused by the poses of the model by the use of a pure and electrifying chromatic palette. His work on paper exploits, among other things, dry pastels such as “square Conté” media specifically made for sketching (sticks manufactured with powder of natural pigments, graphite or charcoal bonded by a base of wax, oil and clay).
The abstractions stemming from the subconscious of Vidal are veritable coloured explosions, imprinted with lyricism and passion. His mixed media technic includes; union, rupture, transparency, opacity, superposition, negation, impressions, smoothing, clear, obscure, collages and glazing. So many ways to understand how the artist paints.
On canvases that litter the ground, Vidal firstly starts by making improvised splashes of several mediums (diluted flexible modelling paste sometimes combined with a base colour, medium matte). This stage allows him to work several canvases at the same time as polyptychs. Then, Vidal fragments the sets and completes the works, one by one, on the easel.
To produce the desired results on these canvases, several techniques are used. Glazing consists of superimposing several very thin layers of paint to give and cause a depth and gradient effect.The induction of pictorial layers by direct gesture is inspired by tachism. Bottle, spatulas, knives, scrapers, brush, sponge are all tools that will allow him to obtain the composition and the desired effects.
Since 2011, in addition to canvases, Vidal works his abstractions on brown or white kraft paper that he maroufle on canvas when completed. The paper being porous allows it a certain flexibility. In its general composition, he uses ink mixed with acrylic, and diluted acrylic to which he adds decorative highlights with dry pastel or conte sticks such as a nod to Klimt, Miró or Pellan.
Soraya Bassil
Art Historian and Museologist, specialized in Built Heritage