WORKS
Selected paintings and works
La pesanteur et la Grâce
Oil on canvas · 107 x 165 cm · 2021
Between the World of Gods and Men
Hermès, suspended between the world of the gods and the world of men, entrusts himself to the wisdom of the Cosmos.
Tout contre
Oil on canvas · 165 × 75 cm · 2021
Arkhè, dividing the primordial unity, splits the Sun into two half-discs. The Dragons, guardians of the light, tear through the darkness and introduce polarity into the manifested world. Men and women must now learn to transcend this duality.
Study for Tout contre
Gouache, ink and pencil on cardboard · 2020
Inner dialogue, that exchange with what rises from below to question us.
Often a mystery, an incomprehensible power and a consuming fire that we must try to tame as best we can, so as not to be hurt by it.
The Little Dragon holds secrets like a chest holds its jewels;
by questioning it, we may finally set them free.
Dame au Dragonnet
Oil on MDF · 33 × 21 cm · 2026
The Three Graces
Oil on linen canvas - 195 x 97 cm - 2025
The Three Graces form a circle: the eternal cycle of giving, gratitude and reciprocation.
I have revisited the classical composition of the Three Graces, with one figure seen from behind and two facing forward, holding one another.
I have woven into this composition the idea of the four elements — Water, Fire, Air and Earth — represented by their initials. Euphrosyne, Thalia and Aglaea are set against a luminous, egg-shaped background, evoking an inverted fire and bringing the whole composition together.
The painting also embodies the three stages of the alchemical Work, represented by the wings of the raven, the white dove and the red bearded vulture: black, white and red.
Each Grace has one hand reaching upwards and the other downwards, expressing the relationship between above and below.
Oil on canvas · 65 × 54 cm · 2026
Racine de 2
At the square root of two, paths cross like two lost lines that meet and bring forth infinite space.
Following the bishop's diagonal, the path of the angle, and listening to the secrets of the
angel, this irrational relationship leads to transcendence.
Entracte
Oil on canvas · 46 x 38 cm 2026
Like sleep falling upon us, like hope and despair fading one after the other, and as always, between the cycle of days and nights, there is this unfathomable and mysterious half-light that draws the blazing curtain of illusions over us.
Connection
Oil on canvas . 116 x 81 cm . 2025
Justice and grace, the iron law and clemency, the physical world and spirituality.
An irrational number resists simple expression and cannot be written as the ratio of two integers.
A number which, although it exists, cannot be named by a simple name.
It is the irreducible, the undefinable, a being of infinity that refuses to be confined within the cage of rationality.
An infinity of decimals that never end and never repeat, like an eternal breath that finds no rest in the form of a fraction.
The immeasurable truth that brings together diameter and circumference.
It is like a melody without a refrain, a dance without a fixed measure, a dream that reason cannot grasp.
Blues aspiration
Oil on canvas . 55 x 46 cm . 2025
Like a cloud tenderly enveloping the crescent Moon, nostalgia surrounds her in its airy embrace.
Memories of the colours of the painter René-Antoine Houasse and the curls of “la Scapigliata” have sometimes stolen my brush from me for this painting.
Par-delà les montagnes
Yabusame
Oil on canvas . 92 x 65 cm . 2003
Private collection.
Oil on canvas . 92 x 73 cm . 2003
Private collection.
" The colour, now radiant,
will fade tomorrow.
In this world, what is permanent?
Once beyond the high mountains,
through the chain of causes and effects,
there are no longer any illusions or pleasures."
8th century, manuscript of the “Man-yō-shū”, poet of the Nara period.
Qui mal voudrait
au Royaume de France
Oil on canvas . · 122 × 92 cm · 2003
The Pectoral of the High Priest
Oil on canvas · 1 × 1 m · 2024
Private collection.
Beyond a sumptuous trompe-l'œil, this work explores the rich colours of natural stones and the texture of aged gold. Its apparent weight contrasts with the elevation of the mind through contemplation of eternal symbols.
Pandora
Oil on wood . 49 x 40 cm . 2020
Emerging Hermes
Oil on wood . 49 x 40 cm . 2020
Hermes emerges.
From beyond, he pierces the wall of the senses and manifests himself.
Pandora parts the opaque veil of illusion and breaks into our world.
Chimera
Oil on canvas · 116 x 73 cm · 2017
The monstrous Chimera awakens from ancient mythology.
Whenever her claws seize upon error and falsehood, she spreads across the world.
The Aulos Player
Oil on canvas . 35 x 27 cm . 2022
Private collection.
The harmony of opposites expressed through the melody of Pan.
Study for The Tribunal of Cerberus
Pastel · 48 x 37 cm · 2017
Cerberus, the triple being, upon the pyramid. Tribunal.
The Latin etymological dictionary brings the word close to tres (“three”), explaining: tribuere means “to divide into three”. One cannot judge in complete accord between body, soul and spirit.
The Tribunal of Cerberus
Oil on canvas . 116 x 89 cm . 2017
Caprice d'or au soleil levant
Painted screen · Oil painting, gold leaf and handcrafted metal structure.
Screen — 3 panels, 50 × 150 cm, stretched on a black metal structure.
Total height: 1.80 m.
Beyond the Ashes of Time
Oil and ashes on board. 49 x 40 cm . 2021
Private collection.
The ashes of the past, what remains after the passage of time: a river of fire guarded by a young dragon, like an eternal light.
The memory of those who leave fades day by day.
Le souvenir de ceux qui partent diminue de jour en jour
“Anonymous warriors, passing by and vanishing into golden dust, who will remember you?”
Mounted warriors emerge from a golden haze, their figures caught between movement and disappearance. They evoke the countless lives swept into the currents of history, whose names and stories gradually fade from collective memory.
Through oil paint on linen and the luminous presence of yellow and white gold leaf, Alexandre Barbera-Ivanoff creates an atmosphere in which the figures seem to dissolve into the passage of time. The Japanese calligraphy carries the title of the work, reinforcing its meditation on absence, remembrance and the slow fading of memory.
The canvas is stretched and secured with metal rivets between two handcrafted wrought-iron elements, making the structure itself an integral part of the artwork.
Medium: Oil on linen canvas, yellow and white gold leaf
Calligraphy: Japanese characters bearing the title of the work
Construction: Canvas mounted between two handcrafted wrought-iron elements, secured with metal rivets
Dimensions: 205 × 85 cm . 2001
