“Still life photography” is how Candice Milon subtitles her art. Now on view the Galerie de la Belle Juliette, her photographs are arranged into a strange and surreal cabinet of curiosities.
In elaborate presentations, Milon tries at first to capture the life under glass to preserve a part of its eternal beauty. To collect it. But then she becomes witness of the secret and delicate power that breathes life and desire for freedom into her subjects: butterflies and mimosas, crustacea and violets, starfish and daisies all come to life before our eyes. Milon’s photographic installations reference classical painting. The lateral and oblique lighting borrows from the Flemish masters. But a feeling of doubt unsettles the perfect combinations of flowers and animals. The bouquet of thistle becomes an octopus trying to escape from under the glass. Something organic begins to move again. The artist’s process is a hybrid between painting and photography, but also between animal and vegetable. And “what remains of life” is visible throughout her compositions.
A graduate of the Beaux-Arts de Marseille and the Ecole des Gobelins in Paris, Candice Milon has served as an assistant to several photographers. A freelance photographer, she now lives in Paris.
EXHIBITION
Curiosité
Galerie Belle Juliette
November 6 – January 5, 2014
92 rue du Cherche-Midi
75006 Paris
France
