JOINT PROJECT HENK (UKRAINE) - BÉDARD (CANADA).
Sometimes unexpected encounters change your path. That’s what happened with this meeting with Oleksii Pasenchenko (Alex Henk is his artist name). Alex lives in Odessa, in the south of Ukraine, a city that is the target of frequent Russian bombings. This 60-year-old self-taught artist creates remarkable abstract works with few means. You can discover them on the websites of Artmajeur.com and Saatchi Art.
I was captivated by his work, an expressionist approach very close to my drawings that can also be discovered on Artmajeur.com. Such an outstretched hand could not be refused. For Alex, this project is a "breath of fresh air" in the middle of the war. And I am evolving on the human and artistic levels thanks to this sharing which is like an outstretched hand across the ocean. Thanks to him, I returned to drawing and painting after a long absence as one returns home after a long exile.
Abstract expressionism becomes the meeting ground, the common language that allows dialogue. It is a creative and ethical challenge that requires me to welcome my partner who lives and creates in a context of war. It is a pacifist approach that places the benevolent encounter and the clash between contrasting realities at the heart of this project.
