June 2019

Interview: Philippe Halaburda - Abstract emotion

Philippe Halaburda is a busy man. The French-born, New York-based abstract artist is a conduit of emotion, absorbing the environment around him and translating it, prolifically, into works that pull and tug on our subconscious.  Abstract, geometric shapes burst from his imagination, his color choices not unlike the works of the late modern master Henri Matisse, who also got his start in the South of France. There is no off switch: Halaburda’s hyper-inquisitive DNA fuels the inspiration behind his work, brilliant pieces created on a variety of mediums including canvas, paper, plexiglass, cardboard, and wood. He relentlessly explores the world around him, his iPhone at the ready, his mind ablaze with possibility. Equal parts New Age artist and old-school cartographer, Halaburda often melds these two passions, creating imaginary topographies that move the needle on a deeply emotional level. It’s all part of what makes Philippe Halaburda deliciously unique.

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“Art is my love,” Halaburda says, settling into the interview. “When I am creating art, it’s important for me to have my own style. I’m not interested in doing something that has already been done.”  

Like genius abstract artist Mark Rothko, who moved through many artistic styles until reaching his signature 1950s motif of soft, rectangular forms floating on a stained field of color, Halaburda has also undergone his own transformation. Several of them, actually. The purity of his abstractions and methodical practice by which he arrives at them make his work instantly recognizable, and the radically simplified elements reflect what he sees as the spiritual order underlying the visible world, creating a clear, universal aesthetic language within his canvases. While his art has been compared to the Suprematism movement of late Russian avant-garde artist Kazimir Malevich, there are also traces of the De Stijl movement championed by the Dutch master, Piet Mondrian. It’s as if both styles were fed through the blender of Halaburda’s mind until something entirely new poured out.  

“For me, relationships are the foundation of everything I create. Whether I’m in the studio with brush and canvas, or I’m on the street with my iPhone, my art is connected in some way to the deep, emotional elements built into relationships – whether that is contradiction, or harmony, or something entirely different.”

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Born in Meaux, France, a serious rugby accident landed Halaburda in the hospital, ending his athletic career and propelling him on a the journey to where he is today.  “I was in the hospital for two weeks,” he says. “I was sixteen at the time, and it was during this period that I started to draw. I drew comics, because I wanted to tell stories, and I discovered that I liked it. There was no stopping by this point.”  

Like Andy Warhol, who was struck down with a neurological disorder which kept him off school for nearly a year, Halaburda’s recovery from a badly broken knee took six long months. Similarly, both leaned on art to pass the time.  “I continued to draw comics,” Halaburda says. “Every day I enjoyed it more. It was something my parents noticed and supported. Once they realized how passionate I was about art, they encouraged me to think about a career where I could use my creativity.”  

Following graduation, Halaburda went away to study graphic design at EDTA SORNAS in Paris. He spent three years there, in a small class of 20-25 students, where his formal academic training ranged from nudes to still life to illustrations. He also started to paint during this time, first on large paper and then on canvas. And then, a year after graduation, Halaburda received the ultimate validation that he should pursue art as a career.  “In 1996, I organized my first exhibition in Paris,” Halaburda says. “There were twelve paintings in the exhibition, and I sold three of those to a young curator. Up until that point, I’d never imagined trying to become a professional artist. I was still drawing comics and doing illustrations on paper…it was not my dream to become a painter. Later I started drawing the same characters on large paper, and after that I started to paint a little bit, which led to my first exhibition. It was a fun period in my life, because I was creating art and trying to see what would happen.”  

Halaburda held down an assortment of odd jobs as he continued to launch his young art career – working shifts in bars, cafés, and restaurants, all while continuing to paint. He also shared a small flat with two friends from Switzerland, one of which who returned home over the summer to work with his father. Halaburda joined him, met a girl, and suddenly found himself on the move.

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“She lived in Bern, so I ended up relocating,” says Halaburda. “We were married for three years. I was still painting, but during this period my pallet changed. I was using cold colors…blues, primarily…my paintings were mostly interior scenes, and were influenced by being inside so much during the long, cold winters.”  

Halaburda’s style continued to evolve during this period. While still figurative, he was no longer focused on drawing characters as he had in France. Instead, he was slowly moving toward abstract expressionism, combining shapes on the canvas, twisting and bending them into something altogether different.  

“Up until this point, I had been committed to drawing figures, using black outlines to define the shapes and then filling in with color in a very traditional way. It wasn’t a conscious decision to go in a different direction. It was a very natural progression.”  

Relocating to Aix-en-Provence, a university city in the South of France, Halaburda’s pallet changed yet again. His work became more pink, with a focus on brighter colors.  “I was still painting characters, even though the background was becoming more abstract. It might be a simple sketch, but you might only see the head of the character. The rest would be combined with the background in some interesting way.”  

Between 2009 and 2012, Halaburda abandoned figurative painting altogether. Untethered from its restraints, he could fully immerse himself in the emotional center of his art.  

“It was the final leap for me,” he says. “I had taken some time to focus on other things, such as graphic design and theatre direction. When I returned to art, it was with a renewed energy and a different perspective.”  Inspired and restless, Halaburda put on solo exhibits across Southern France – the port city of Marseille, the communes of Nailloux and Châteauneuf du Pape, the city of Avignon – but struggled to make ends meet. It was a pivotal moment, one that changed the trajectory of his life.  

“I changed my website from French to English,” he says. “I had decided that I wanted to leave Southern France, and I started making plans to move to London. It felt like a natural step for me, because I wasn’t selling enough to continue working as an artist.”

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As chance would have it, an art dealer in the United States landed on Halaburda’s website. Convinced that the colorful, geometric abstracts would be well-received stateside, he reached out and proposed that the artist pay a visit to Santa Fe, New Mexico. In 2013, Halaburda’s exhibit debuted at the prestigious Peyton Wright Gallery, boosting both his Q-Rating and his bottom line.  

“That was a turning point for me,” Halaburda says. “I was making ten times the money for the same art that I was selling in France, so I started making plans to move to the United States. I decided that New York City was the best place for me, so in 2016 I made the leap and opened my studio on Bogart Street in Brooklyn.”  

Now fully immersed in the New York art scene, and with a thriving business and dozens of shows and exhibitions under his belt, Philippe Halaburda continues to push the envelope with his art while building on his reputation as one of the city’s top abstract artists.  Matisse, Malevich and Mondrian would no doubt be proud.

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by Michael D. McClellan

15 minutes with
NY, USA

April 2019

Article: French artist Philippe Halaburda
finds the light in America

The French artist and expat, Philippe Halaburda, arrived in the United States on November 6, 2016, looking to take his artistic career to new heights and clearly, new places.

This was, of course, just two days before Donald Trump would shock the world and win the presidency. As if moving to an entirely new country isn’t stressful enough.  Halaburda had been living in the South of France (Aix-en-Provence, about 20 miles north of Marseille) for 16 years. This came on the heels of a short stint in Switzerland and a stretch in Paris, where he worked as a graphic designer.

He now lives in Bushwick, a short bike ride from his sun-lit studio in the 56 Bogart building.  “It was never my dream to come to the US,” says Halaburda, 47, over the phone, “but I knew I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life in the South of France.”

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In his early 20s, Halaburda did quite a bit of painting, but mostly as a hobby. He was outside in pleasantly gratuitous nature, replete with her many curves and an abundance of light. “The light in the South of France is very specific,” he says, reiterating what many astute art history lovers seem to infer. Halaburda mentioned that he had always been “searching for the light.” But where this was the main mission behind the painting and also his notable photographic pursuits, this search may have moved internally.  

With increased introspection and maturity came more abstract, geometric forms, an expression of a restless mind, trapped in the present and reflecting on the immediate environment, itself caught in a spatial hyper-state of chaos and stagnation. With his unique “map compositions,” at once organic, architectural and spiritually précis, Halaburda found himself exploring the nebulous boundary between perception and experience. In the process, he developed a signature aesthetic. “If I’m doing art,” Halaburda begins, “it’s because I feel like I’m doing something different. It’s important to have my own style. I don’t want to do what’s been done.”  

On May 2, Halaburda will unveil a solo booth, Spatial representation of emotion, at The Other Art Fair, now in its fifth Brooklyn edition (Brooklyn Expo Center, Greenpoint) and its 37th globally. The fair, presented by Saatchi Art, will be representing over 16 countries around the world. Halaburda will now be counted among their 49 New York-based artists out of 130 total.  It’s been an interesting journey for Halaburda, who could serve as one portal into the larger art fair ecosystem and greater art world, where so much art and so many human art stories frequently get lost or side-stepped, some rightfully so, others, quite shamefully.

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In 2012, an art dealer from Santa Fe, New Mexico stumbled across Halaburda’s website and thought his work would fair well in the US market. A year later, after a handful of meetings with various dealers, the artist met John Wright Schaefer, owner of Peyton Wright Gallery, which specializes in 20th century post war and modern American art. Halaburda stayed with the New Mexico gallery for one year, where he, “…Did some exhibitions, made some sales, got a good cut.”  

At the time he was the first living artist to be selected for representation with the gallery in over a decade, perhaps because his anti-click bait work can feel more “modern” than “contemporary,” meaning, less figurative, more emotional (form, color), and certainly less didactic.  

Halaburda would visit the United States roughly twice a year only to see some art world relationships fade before deciding to make the leap across the pond.  

“Coming to New York changed everything,” he says. “I came by myself and with no connections. I was broke two years ago. I became a starving artist as they say. It was intense, but I was able to manage.”

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Over the last two years, he’s been doing works of acrylic and felt pen on canvas and paper, incorporating elements from various artistic schools or “isms” (Constructivism, Suprematism, Cubism, Futurism). “When I moved to NY, I kept my style, but it’s become more chaotic, linear, geometric,” he says. “I don’t use curves anymore because I don’t see curves in the city. I am inspired by the topography and cartography. I break the grid to create my own interpretation of New York.”  

Halaburda has recently been breaking into the third dimension, with his floating plexiglas installations, which also feature his algorithmic, bacterial rectangles, scratches and splashes-tiny bodies or nodes floating over a minimal web of architectural lines or strings. However, paint is often replaced by strips of tape.

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A work of this nature was recently featured in FLOW, an immersive art experience in a previously inactive space, now Midtown’s The Bellewether, which ran from March 4-11. This was part of creative agency The Vanderbilt Republic’s partnership with Circular City Week New York, an initiative that brings together creative professionals across the globe to transform industries and redesign urban living. In many ways, Halaburda’s installation-four large plexiglas circles riddled with his geometric animaculai, which cast shadows across space like falling (in extreme slow motion) leaves or confetti-acted as a visual representation of this project’s larger goal, while alluding to our interconnected yet all too disembodied planetary relationship.  

“I use primary colors in the works,” notes the artist, recalling the Russian avant-garde artist and founder of Suprematism, Kazimir Malevich, who also preferred to work with simple materials and pure forms. “If you wear a red shirt or blue jeans and you go in a certain position behind the Plexi, it can change the image and change the art. Work on paper or canvas can be flat. I like to bring people into the art, make them active.”

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Outside of showing in a Chashama fundraising event in June, Halaburda doesn’t know what’s next; only that he doesn’t want to go back to France. “I knew I had to go somewhere else,” he says. “It’s intense here, but it’s been very positive. My work gained meaning and deepness. As a person, it’s the same thing. My limits, what I could do, what I would accept. In France we don’t have this melting pot. It’s been a great experience.”  

A enduring glimmer of the “American Dream” perhaps? “It’s a small flame, still active and I can feel it,” says Halaburda, speaking primarily to his artistic drive, but also the light within a dwindling notion of Western enlightenment. “And I don’t want to give up.”

by Kurt Mc Vey

Quiet lunch magazine
NY, USA

March 2019

Collective show at the Bellewether art space, Manhattan, NY

Circular City Week: "FLOW"

The Vanderbilt Republic is an agency known for producing creative and immersive experiences in New York City. VR has previously produced experiences inside the Gowanus Loft and this month debuted a new space in Midtown called The Bellewether.

FLOW is comprised of multiple immersive art installations and performances created in partnership with Circular City Week New York. Work from artist like Philippe Halaburda completely transformed the raw space and led to an exciting evening of art.

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The evening began with drinks and socializing inside The Bellewether’s storefront art gallery, a large space adjacent to venue’s new cafe which opens this week. Creative Director and Executive Producer George Del Barrio welcomed us to the space, which used to be an electrical repair company, and gave us some background on the show we were about to experience.

FLOW is a showcase that demonstrates “how a circular economy can be a source of artistic inspiration.” The pieces in the exhibit were selected from applications to an open call which sought work that touched on the ideals of circular economics and contained a form of human expression.

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For Halaburda, the circular economy is a global paradigm shift with the potential to transform industry and redesign urban living. The transformative potential of circularity is not specific to a single sector but can be linked to everything from digitization and the sharing economy, to the food industry and the built environment. 

by George Del Barrio

for  the Vanderbilt Republic
NY, USA

July 2017

Solo show at FRG gallery, Hudson, NY

"Cardboards of New York"

Philippe Halaburda’s highly unusual body of work is inspired by his 2015 move to New York City, when he made the daring decision to paint on cardboard, a material easily acquired in the streets of Brooklyn. Flattened packages, tubes used for carpet or fabrics, and even cereal boxes provided an exciting deviation from traditional shapes and canvas surfaces and increased the urban narrative of Halaburda’s work.

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The works on cardboard seem to channel the metropolitan energy of New York. Applying the language of abstract expressionism has created intense, emotional paintings while retaining a fierce sense of identity and independence. With each painting, Halaburda embarks on an improvisational journey, the outcome being vivid, rhythmic compositions of geometric shapes and staccato brushstrokes, always spontaneous yet  precisely executed. Halaburda’s palette reflects the psychological state imposed by his environment.

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It comes as no surprise that an artist with global influence would attribute such significance to the relationship between location and psyche. Halaburda has exhibited work in the United States, Canada, Europe (France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria, Belgium), and Australia. Halaburda’s work is also in the collection of many institutions such as the Radar (Bayeux, France), Draguignan Permanent Art Collection (Draguignan, France), and the Villa Baulieu Art Collection (Aix-en-Provence, France). It is also in private collections in the United States, France, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Canada, the Netherlands, and China.

by Rick Gillette

for  the Vanderbilt Republic
NY, USA

July 2016

Solo show at LionHeart gallery, Poundridge, NY
"Imaginary Mindscapes" by Philippe Halaburda

French artist Philippe Halaburda hails from Aix-en-Provence, and the playful vibrant colors in his paintings echo the bright primary hues and sunlight of this region. Recently he has been creating work in New York City, which he credits with lending more minimalism and deeper tones to his palette.

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His art can be found in collections, homes, and offices throughout Europe, North America, Canada, and Australia. Although abstract, Halaburda’s paintings explore the universal themes of love, personal crisis, beauty, and death, playing out in sprawling and imaginary urban maps and landscapes.

The artist sees his canvases as springboards for building mental architecture. Exploring interactions between shapes and lines, he forms “art topographies” that explore social tensions and relationships instead of addresses and landmarks.

Using acrylic paints, Halaburda makes patterns that look like cities seen from high above—in fact, his process is to paint on canvasses that lie flat on the floor. The geographies he constructs are intricate and meticulous, yet emotionally charged, and become maps of passions, ideas, and dreams.

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The artist professes a spontaneity and expressiveness that is evident in the marks he makes: lines that might be partial letters or numbers, large washes of paint, smaller shapes spiraling out that seem like fragments of earth or machinery. To achieve this range, Halaburda has experimented with unusual studio tools, including replacing paintbrushes with rubber spatulas to create clean shapes and smooth, even applications of pigment.  

“My style is a graphic game of lines, strokes, colors, repetitions…it oscillates between binary opposites: imagination and observation, lucidity and frenzy,” writes Halaburda. “It blurs the boundaries between painting, drawing, and writing, while preserving a high degree of love for the colors.” And the colors jubilantly shine in each composition, especially given Halaburda’s skillful manipulation of acrylic paint to make it appear translucent one moment, opaque the next.  

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As Lionheart Gallery Director Susan Grissom notes, “Philippe’s paintings are like imaginative aerial views that have a strong sense of place…he creates wonderful new worlds on a monumental scale.”

by Tory Rysz

for The LionHeart Gallery,

Pound Ridge, NY, USA

September 2015

Collective show, 912 Arty gallery, Lourmarin, France

"Philippe Halaburda, artiste haut en couleurs!"

Philippe Halaburda partage maintenant son temps entre la France et les États-Unis.

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Son travail tente de refléter une exploration continue de l’abstrait se plaçant volontairement entre l’accident et le consciemment structuré, la juxtaposition des formes spontanées et celles plus géométriques. Cette façon unique de faire est un moyen de visualiser et figer son flux de pensées à l’aide de traits, de formes, de signes, parfois de lettres…

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On peut visualiser aussi à des paysages imaginaires qui illustrent cela et s’affranchissent des lois physiques telles que la gravitation, lévitation, équilibres, trajectoires, ordre…Les compositions de Philippe Halaburda sont fragmentées, tectoniques, en équilibre fragile, avec des couleurs vives, comme celles qui servent pour les relevés géologiques ou l’établissement de cartes géographiques. Il conçoit de nouveaux codes, développe un langage à part entière avec une écriture unique, originale et vivante ou il est question d’intérieur et d’extérieur, de soi et d’altérité, d’orientation et de positionnements respectifs des objets ou de l’humain dans l’espace.

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C’est en cela que son travail est très similaire à des cartes satellitaires ou la sensation de vues aériennes.

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Il emploie le terme de «topographie mentale».Il vise à créer un nouveau sens pictural ordonné révélant les sentiments et les émotions transposés. Une touche de pinceau ou de spatule influence la suivante, une couleur provoque la prochaine, une forme en crée une autre, alternant ainsi spontanéité et contrôle.

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Une notion ambiguë entre figuration et abstraction partielle peut ainsi apparaître dans son travail, laissant le spectateur librement s’engager dans le décodage du sens de l’œuvre.

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A découvrir jusqu’au 31 janvier 2016 à La Maison d’Ingrid Ephémère à Aix en Provence ou à la galerie sur Lourmarin, en collection permanente.

by 912 Arty gallery

Lourmarin, France

September 2015

Article: "Philippe Halaburda, abstraction

and the unbearable lightness of color"

There is a gentle light that shines through the abstract paintings of Philippe Halaburda like the sort seen during the warm summer mornings at his home near Marseille.

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Just as that crystal-clear sunlight of Mediterranean France inspired the works of Picasso and Cezanne before him, Halaburda brings the light to life by setting mainly primary colours against a white, sometimes untouched, canvas. Playful, unpredictable and bold brushstrokes produce an explosion of colour and abstraction against the purity of the white.

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At work, Halaburda hovers over each canvas, placed flat on the ground to give him a bird’s eye view as he paints. The works are snapshots of his thoughts and feelings, like maps of his emotions at a given time.Such paintings are “in a constant state of flux and suggest different things to different people,“ Halaburda says. “I see them as a springboard for the imagination. Lines, shapes and paint stains can suggest to me some things I would never consciously design. I want my paintings to have a real presence, for them to magnify the space, to own it.”This abstraction allows Halaburda to return to an age childhood, where innocence and the absence of thought are allowed to run freely.

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The approach brings spontaneity and truth, he says, and an escape from the reality around him, challenging the rules that dominate adult life, to tackle the great universal themes of love, art, beauty, and death.Born in 1972 in France, Halaburda studied graphic design in Paris.

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More recently, he has spent three months living in New York City. The new urban environment has brought change to his life and his work and style may be about to take a new turn. New works will mix photography and painting and include QR codes on each work.

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The paintings will be the starting point, after which technology will open them up to others, allowing viewers to upload conversations, videos and other images to produce a much more “social” and digital result, a reflection of the life he experienced in New York .

by The Disclaimer Magazine

London, UK

March 2015

Article: Halaburda is for me one of the 101

super hot artists 2015

When I first saw Philippe Halaburda’s website, I smiled. I knew that I had to chat with him. His abstract paintings are so fresh, innovative and even childlike yet also very sophisticated. This French artist is very clear about his process and what works for him. Here’s our cool chat:

Michael: Philippe, I absolutely love your paintings. To me, they look like maps and pictures of landscapes that are taken from high up in an airplane. I see lots of fragments and pieces of things. What inspires you to create these paintings?

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Philippe: I paint in a very natural way. That means for me, staying spontaneous and totally active-minded. I think that I create paintings or drawings to tell my own story, to express my own feelings about life, about love, about relationships and about our world. Since the beginning, I noticed that people felt the same things as me, like if I touched something universal.I wanted to take people by their hand and make them think about their own situation without oppressing them. I need to keep this connection with them, but never think about it when I am starting a new painting. Ultimately, I paint for myself. Once the painting is finished, I see that other people feel good or bad emotions because of the colors, the shapes, the details.In a very practical way, I paint on the ground and put my canvas on the floor. That’s why you have this sensation of high up. For me, it looks like a map, but a mind map, my mind map at one precise moment. I put all my frustrations or desires on the canvas. I want to also use it as a picture- dictionary of myself, with a very personal and graphic language.I paint every day. It is very natural for me. I don’t have any pain to do it; it’s just pleasure to be able to express my darkness or to shine personality with paintings and drawings. I used to work in a figurative way about six years ago, thinking that represented people or that it was easier to express feelings. But with time, my painting has exploded and now, with abstraction, I see that I have a lot of things to express. It now seems to have no end.

M: I get the feeling that painting gives you childlike joy. Does it? Did you paint back when you were a child?

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P: Yes, I am very happy, naive and expressive during the act of creation. As an adult, it’s as if my deep child part of me has the power to create art, to develop concepts, to mix the colors and to dare original drawings.I want to be in the light spirit, I search to break all the rules of grow-up life and be the most natural as possible. Make a painting is an act of pleasure, a mix between my intellect and subconscious. During the time I was a child, I was not very interested about drawings, like a common boy. I started to discover my talent during my 17th birthday. I had knee surgery and stayed for several months without moving or doing sport. Then, I started drawing, writing comics and I discovered that I really enjoy doing that. It was the beginning of my life as an artist.

M: Wow. Do you live in France and Santa Fe? Where are you now? How does your environment inspire you?

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P: I don’t live in Santa Fe. My agent actually lives there and I have 25 to 30 canvases there. I am currently living in the south of France, near Marseille. But I am thinking about changing the place where I live, maybe to the United States or another country. I think that I have been very influenced by the lightness of this part of France. Nature is very clear and sunlight very shining here, a lot of painters as Picasso and Cezanne worked here in the past. I have been also influenced by the landscapes and the nature. That’s why I use only primary colors with a large presence and white backgrounds or I may not touch the canvas. I want my works to bring light and put colors in the foreground.

M: So many people see the work of abstract artists and they say, "My four year old can do that!" What do you think about this?

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P: I think, “Hey, Then why you don’t try to do it?” Michael: Ha! Ha! Exactly. Philippe: For me, the act of painting abstract works is indeed like going back to this age of innocence, of naivety, of childhood. I need to have fun and I’m not really thinking when I am working. Of course, I am still thinking because I am an adult and not a child anymore. I need to be in this mood of creation based on spontaneity and on truth. Children draw without cheating, they go straight away to the point that they want to show or express.As an artist, I research this natural and common way. With some elementary materials, I try to succeed at each painting. Staying spontaneous and sincere asks for a lot of unconscious work. That means that I am looking for my child part in the depth of myself with each new creation. This is one way to touch universal human nature.

M: What do you think about the contemporary art world and art market? So many living artists are struggling while Picasso and Rothko and other dead, famous artists continue to have big shows and make lots of money.

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P: I believe that there’s a place for every artist in the art world and art market. Regarding the quality of work, I can imagine that you can find your way to create, to show your art, to exhibit and of course to sell it. From my side, it’s quite different because my art did not belong to a defined art style. I mean that when I approached some galleries or art dealers, they recognized the quality of my work, but they did not want to take the risk to show it. However, my art is very appreciated by many people. I can sale it by myself with no difficulties. A lot or people tell me that I will be famous when I am dead. It’s a pretty common idea, but I am thinking that you can earn money with your art during your life.The point is, maybe you have to work doing other things, but it is a possible way to do and to succeed. It is also a lot of work and it should take several decades to improve my art. I try to stay the most authentic with that and to do sincerely the best art that I can do. Following my own way, I believe that one day, my creations will be recognized regarding their true value.

M: Finally Philippe, What is the point of art? Most people won't ever buy art. They say they don't need art, so why should anyone care?

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P: I think art is an excellent way to escape reality. It can bring you to discover yourself, your environment. It shows you what happens around you. Art is a focus of our actual society. Of course, many of people don’t need art or buy art, but I believe that for some people, it is like a balance in their life. As an artist, art seems like therapy for me. It brings me balance and the ability to face the hard realities of the world. Art is a door toward childhood, toward pleasure with background introspection. It is like an open book to understand human nature and to consider our society. Some people need to do that to handle life, some others don’t. Everyone is free to choose his way to escape or face reality.

M: Absolutely. Thanks Philippe. Very cool chat.

by Michael K. Corbin, ArtBookGuy

Philadelphia, USA

December 2014

Collective show, Velvenoir Gallery, Salzbourg, Austria
Everyone is free to choose his pictorial journey in my work...

Every artist thinks or feels something within the process of creating an artwork. However, at the same time the artist wants that the viewer makes his own thoughts about the artwork.

The concurrence of intentions from the artist and the input of the viewer, is the really exciting process in art. In this way both can learn from each other. The artist has the opportunity to discover new things through the viewer, which he/she wouldn’t be able to discover and with the help of the artist, the viewer can understand it, find it beautiful and inspiring, even if it hadn´t seem interesting for them before. Philippe Halaburda is an artist who takes his whole environment into the picture while painting. Impressions, feelings and moments are implemented within his works, by using powerful colors and shapes.

It all remembers me a little bit of the artist Kasimir Malewitsch (1878-1935).

He was a representative of Constructivism and Suprematism. Influenced by Cubism and Futurism, Malewitsch worked only with "pure" forms, such as square, circle and cross, which he added with colorful colors into his canvas. The black square on a white background is the absolute zero-form for him, as it is the greatest possible reduction of the objective shape.

"The colorful colored areas are visual indicators of an invisible and perfect through the white pixelswhich is basically illustrated in this invisibility dynamics." (quoted in Kambartel, p 213)

The artwork of Philippe is very similar within the fundamentals. Differently colored shapes, which are added by the artist and brushed onto the canvas. However, they are not exactly schematically, as seen in Malewitsch’s artworks. For Philippe it is not about the geometric accuracy.

He likes to use the forms in the length, crosses them or makes them beat arch.

Parts of them are blurring through the boundaries and sometimes into a complete scale.

His paintings are characterized by an enormous dynamism and presence. Someone, might think just by looking at them that they tell their own story.

I personally find it very exciting to discover these stories and letting myself drift towards a different world through the warm reds and harmonious blues and greens.

by Eva Mistur, Velvenoir

Salzbourg, Austria

November 2012

Article:

Art Quench Gallery announces the 2012 Abstract Competition Winner: Philippe Halaburda

On Purpose Magazine is working closely with ArtQuench Magazine andArtQuench Gallery to introduce and bring you some of the most magnificent artwork ArtQuench can find. We will be featuring their monthly art competition winners, but please stop by their site to check out all the wonderful art submissions and the full gallery.

Our Juror Monica Hicks: 

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"I am choosing Halaburda’s first work. It speaks to urban sprawl. The abstraction of survival, cityscapes as seen from above. I like that it’s acrylic but has the feeling of the uncontrollable watercolor. The layers of paint, the application of the washed, translucency, and vividness reminds me of Mark Bradford multimedia works. Halaburda’s work is both beautiful, abstract, political, and has both visual and intellectual depth".

by Stacia Gates, Founder and Owner
of the Art Quench Gallery, published
in the Purpose Magazine
New York, USA