Swiss expressionist painter Fred Mou conjures his often nearly abstract compositions from an unusual combination of experiences: years spent working as an architect, and coastal areas visited during extensive travels all over the world. His sharp acrylic lines initially suggest illustration, and there is an architectural precision to their forms and their relationship to surrounding negative spaces. Nevertheless, the nautical scenes he often portrays are characterized by a dramatic fluctuation of forms, with geometric shapes and human figures floating above or amidst rolling waves and brightly hued, fluid color fields.
Though clearly inspired by marine life and scenes — fish and allegorical nautical figures appear frequently — Mou’s seascapes remain startlingly unconventional and surprising. The artist is comfortable mixing a vast range of tones, from bold combinations of neons and pastels, to more sparse and monochrome elements. Likewise, his forms combine a lexicon of well-defined lines at sharp angles with more organic, practically cellular curvilinear subjects. Mou paints a vast and superbly eclectic sea of difference.