Through November 4th, 2015, the Galerie Madé presents “Olympic” by photographer Camille Vivier. This exhibition shows two series, “Olympic” and “Sample“, consisting of unique pieces produced between 2013 and 2015.
Sometimes, the best things happen by chance, so the saying goes. But often, what is attributed to chance is, in reality, the result of a patient research, intuition or experiment whose coherence still escapes us. And then, like a puzzle, the pieces fall into place one day to construct a work.
This is the case with Olympic by Camille Vivier : a series of Polaroids test of studio nudes ; or a catalogue of fabric samples found by chance in the family home ; or an address, in Los Angeles, which immediately triggered an imagination nourished by literature and cinema, but also the vision of a city standing amongst its own ruins. Camille Vivier decided to tie these « chance » threads with threads from the fabric of her artistic material. By sticking Polaroids of nudes and buildings onto the pages of a fabric sample catalogue, she raises questions : who clothes what ? Does the fabric clothe the naked women who live in these buildings ? Or does it upholster the rooms through which these naked women move ? Used to the world of fashion, she deconstructs codes and liberates bodies with a feeling of freedom and a desire for starkness. At the same time, by placing them in successive frames, she draws us into a mise en abyme and transforms the image into an object. It is up to us to invent a story, with the elements from the real and imaginary that she offers us.
Camille Vivier presents another catalogue in the series, Sample. That of the fantastical that we no longer see as it is so integrated into our urban environments. Monumental sculptures and strange works punctuate our suburbs, echoing the marvellous gardens of the Italian Renaissance and our own madness. Camille Vivier is a topographer of the strange, making an inventory of these figures that are often anthropomorphic and with which she has freely associated images of Italian theatre puppets. Sculptures, theatre… This is about decor, embedded in its turn in flat areas of gouache, whose smooth and mirrored surface recall childhood memories. Through this play of mixed media, through the decontextualisation of her images, Camille Vivier shows us paths that, once again, it is up to us to take.
Carole Coen
EXHIBITION
Olympic by Camille Vivier
Through November 4th, 2015
Galerie Madé
30 rue Mazarine
75006 Paris
Tel: +33 (0)1 53 10 14 34
From Tuesday to Saturday
11am-1pm / 2pm-7pm
