Henry Curchod: Sharing the Sky

Sumer is pleased to present Sharing the Sky, an exhibition of new paintings (all 2021) by Sydney-based painter Henry Curchod.

Known for his large colourful figurative paintings, Curchod captures moments that are typically impressionistic, sensorial and fleeting. His work is one that also reflects his diverse cultural background. The son of Kurdish-Iranian and Anglo-American parents, his images reference a rich myriad of visual forms that are Asian, European and Oceanic in origin.

There is an intimacy to the works, both in terms of how they are composed—whirling ethereal scenes, often partial in view—and how his painted figures appear unselfconscious and natural. He is preoccupied with the romantic, and takes pleasure in illuminating the minutiae of life; idle moments of modest beauty that contain a natural poetry that can at times approach the profound. Rich in association—some contemporary, some traditional—the works themselves remain enigmatic and curious.

Curchod presents the viewer with a series of paradoxes: the new and the old, the grand and the slight, the flippant and the reverent, the quotidian and the miraculous. These are paintings that have the capacity to both enthral and confound. They delight with their beauty, their engagement with the romantic and the sensational, but they also don’t shy away from the gravity and untidiness of the real world.