Hémicycle Strasbourg

John Goudie Lynch’s trajectory is representative of the cultural richness of the European project. He studied in Glasgow, at the Glasgow School of Art (1964–1968) and then taught art at the International School in Amsterdam before moving to France to live and create. At first glance, Lynche’s work could be characterised as simplistically descriptive portraiture of contemporary figures and times. However, upon closer inspection, one notices the slightly distorted postures, the uneven proportions, the characters’ strong and sometimes strange expressions and the surreal situations in which they find themselves. Some of them even meet the viewer's gaze, rupturing the fourth illusionary wall of painting and interact with the now involved spectator. It is therefore surprising that, in the Collection, such an unconventional approach serves the depictions of scenes from Parliamentary life and proceedings. Hémicycle Strasbourg – the artist’s donation to the European Parliament Contemporary Art Collection – is the most conventional of his three paintings. The scene captures the multitude of simultaneous micro-events (whispered comments, repressed yawns, daydreaming, document perusing and a plethora of others) that sessions in the Hemicycle entail. A fragment that summaries an entire Institution.