Lumières noires includes a dozen new paintings, as well as some ten works on paper, by Carol Bernier. While continuing to be inspired by such terrestrial elements as fire and volcanoes, as well as the force of waves, in this exhibition Carol Bernier presents a series of works in which she explores the myriad facets of black and the evocative power of the circular form. A symbol of the ideal, of the eternal and absolute, the circle—a perfect, infinite geometric figure—has exerted a real fascination upon the human imagination. With neither beginning nor end, it is the emblem of continuity. At the same time, as a representation of the sun or moon, the circle, a dazzling, intriguing form, has possessed a mystical symbolism in both West and East since the dawn of time.

For Carol Bernier, the circle was obviously the only form capable of occupying these profoundly dark spaces. Blackness coming not from nothingness, from the void, but from the colour black, the aggregate of all colours. Carol Bernier explores every shade and tint of black, from dark to luminous, to those opening the way to intense contrasts. The French “painter of black” Pierre Soulages has said it “is a violent colour, but one that nonetheless stimulates internalization... when light is reflected in it, black transforms and transmutes it; it opens up a mental field all of its own.” With Lumières noires, Carol Bernier invites us to enter into this world of shadows and light, a world imbued with mystery.