Charles Library at Temple University: Public Commissioned Artwork

Beneath The Surface, 2019

Acrylic on canvas, 96 x 120"

Excerpted from the Charles Library Art Collection Catalogue on the occasion of the completed renovation and acquisition of all art for the library: 

"The large-scale compositions of Parisian-born Catherine Détraves grew out of the artist's smallest, most intimate markings on paper. These tiny marks gradually expanded in scale on larger canvases, eventually becoming the monumental, sweeping gestures we see in Beneath The Surface. Détraves typically begins her paintings by carefully selecting her color palette, her compositions emerging out of these choices. She intentionally disrupts her otherwise harmonizing palette with unexpected color accents that "dirty" the spaces between her swelling, voluminous shapes, which enhances the sense of depth in her work."