An emerging force in abstract expressionism, Haitian American painter, Patrick Eugène (b. 1984) challenges the social, cultural and societal expectations placed on and held by his contemporaries. Eugène’s work has been featured amongst the most promising new pioneers in contemporary art, garnering the praise of both critics and esteemed collectors.
Eugène’s work challenges the truncated nature of popular culture. His canvases are rich in color and emotion. His work encourages the viewer to reconsider the urge to abbreviate and to instead dig deeper. Eugene is determined to peel back the complicated, but often-condensed, layers of the issues facing his generation today. The deeply layered composition, vibrant color, and rich texture of his paintings all reflect the multilayered subtext of these issues. Capturing the complex joys, anxieties and confusion of coming of age in New York City, Eugène’s work harkens back to a time before emotions were most often abbreviated into social media’s hashtags and brief status updates.
Viewers are spurred to consider their own abridgement of popular culture, to consider their own participation in the compulsory limitation of their own emotions and experiences and to look closer at each of the conditions presented in Eugène’s work.
Eugène continues to produce work that elucidates his generation’s struggle to express itself within the confines of a social media dominated culture and ever increasing demands for instantaneous communication.