PRESS RELEASE
PHILIPPE UZAC
Apr 15 – May 9, 2026
Everard Read London presents an exhibition of new oil paintings by French-born, South African-based artist, Philippe Uzac.
Uzac finds beauty in weathered, worn and rusted surfaces. The patterns and textures resulting from layers of peeling or fading paint serve as inspiration for Uzac – a manifestation of time passing which evokes a sense of nostalgia and melancholy. “I look for an aesthetic in decay and try to capture it on canvas,” says the artist.
Uzac’s works are achieved through repeated layering of oil paint – up to 15 layers painstakingly applied and allowed to dry before the next is added. Using knives, spatulas, wax and sandpaper, he emulates the effects of time and of the changing seasons by scratching, rubbing and sanding the layers of paint to achieve his signature, textured surfaces.
The artist’s apparently scarred works serve as metaphors for humanity’s futile pursuit of perfection. His process of abstraction has been described as “a peeling away of the idea of perfection and [the] Western pursuit of man ordering nature - a pursuit that has taken our planet into its present crisis……. Uzac peels away all the outer layers to lay bare the scars and imperfections of world around him, and himself.” *
“My process starts with a layer of black paint”, explains Uzac. “Black is the absence of light and evokes the nothingness so dear to Heidegger. But black is also one of the first colours used by man in the neolithic age so although ‘nothing’ is on the canvas at this stage of the process, it carries already the potentiality of ‘everything’. My work is abstract in essence, but following extended periods in rural landscapes, I have been affected by the burnt colours of the dry winters and I continue to feel the urge to reproduce them on my canvases."
This is Philippe Uzac’s second solo presentation with Everard Read London and his fourth with the Everard Read group.
