From December 4, 2015, through January 16, 2016, acte2galerie holds an exhibition devoted to the work of the French photographer Emmanuelle Bousquet. Her photographic series Muses and Statue, each representing a different style, venture into the dark side of images, in search of a mystery that the artist tries to bring to the foreground.
In Statue, Bousquet explores a world beyond, the traces of which are captured thanks to Polaroid alchemy. The artist reveals the secret emulsion by staging what she calls “accidents.” Cracks, mildew stains, serrations are the result of the chemical reactions in the photograph. These “accidents” give depth to the prints by bridging surface and volume, photography and sculpture. They penetrate the photograph in obscure ways.
Emmanuelle Bousquet breathes life into bodies of stone. If photography has the power of freezing life, why shouldn’t it also be able to animate an immobile existence? Like Pygmalion. Ovid tells us Pygmalion was so enamored of the creature he himself had sculpted that she came to life: the maiden began to feel his kisses, they even made her blush; his caresses made blood pulse through her veins, and her body of marble became soft as honey. Praised be Venus, the goddess of love…
In Muses, on the other hand, time seems to have stopped. Originally a convent, then a brothel, the Théâtre du boudoir des Muses, constructed in 1796, still has the power to summon these timeless creatures. There is no doubt about it. This really did happen. This authentication is critical. It is an intimate mark that seals the possibility of the story in time, that is to say, an event. Something did take place. It is inscribed in the photograph; the women eternally vouch for its trace. The photographer has created a new world that reveals what she is yet to learn about herself.
EXHIBITION
Muses & Statue
Emmanuelle Bousquet
From December 4th, 2015 to January 16th, 2016
acte2galerie
9 rue des Arquebusiers
75003 Paris
France
http://www.acte2galerie.com
BOOK
Sous une pierre amante
Emmanuelle Bousquet
Editions Filigranes and Acte2 Galerie, Paris
17 x 2 cm
English/French
30 color photographs
64 pages
ISBN : 978-2-35046-371-1
http://www.filigranes.com
