S. une galerie – Le Select – presents until February 5 an exhibition by Véronique Sablery. Veronique introduces Méta-morphe as follows:
If we stick to the simple definitions proposed by the dictionary, Meta is a prefix which comes from the Greek μετά (meta) (after, beyond, with). It expresses reflection, change, succession, the fact of going beyond, alongside, between or with. Morphe comes from the ancient Greek μορφή, morphe (form)
Under the title Méta-morphe, photographs are brought together, each comprising one or more glass elements which echo the mirrors of the exhibition space on which they are hung as well as the chandeliers which light them.
These photographs are divided into three categories with different titles: Verreries, Apesantes images and S’abstraire. Their common point is the distortion of the photographed object at the time of shooting by an optical phenomenon which transforms it: the installation of a half glass sphere which acts as a magnifying glass or the movement of the camera. A change, meta, of the initial form, morph, then occurs, a sort of metonymic shift of meaning where the entire image disappears in favor of a detail which reveals something else.
Verreries is the title of a series of photographs of table glasses captured through the windows of museums where they are exhibited. The reflections of the windows play with those of the glasses, especially since the photo is taken by moving the camera at the time of shooting, thus producing a fusion of the two reflections, that of the glasses is added to those of the windows to recreate a floating space where the madman dominates.
Under the title Apesantes images and S’abstraire are grouped photographs taken by placing a spherical magnifying glass on reproductions of paintings which illustrate different chapters of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The image appears to be bloated by this optical device and we see inside this bubble the reflections of the environment in which the shot was taken. This kind of bubble inserted in the image produces an effect of weightlessness like a soap bubble suspended in space. Hence the title Apesantes (Weightless) images.
It was from this series that the next one was constructed, entitled S’abstraire. All that remains is the spherical part of the image which has been removed from its environment. It is then suspended between two glass plates, bringing out the spherical appearance. To accentuate the lightness of the photograph and make it more immaterial, it was printed on transparent polyester through which we can see its reflection in the mirror on which the photo is suspended. The viewer thus finds himself included in the work he is looking at.
One of the famous stories from Ovid’s Metamorphoses is the story of Narcissus who lost himself in the contemplation of his own reflection. The offer that was made to me to exhibit on the Sélect mirrors immediately appealed to me. Le Sélect, this legendary place has seen so many artists pass through who were stunned by the reflections of its mirrors and under the golden lighting of its lighting fixtures. Added to the sparkling clinking of the glassware from which we sometimes drink to the point of intoxication, it is a great opportunity to experience a double aspect of the reflection, a sort of redundancy which multiplies the optical play.
The Méta-morphe exhibition bears witness to this, reflecting my questioning and my astonishment at the continuous movement of what we could call reality which is no longer the same depending on the way we look at it and the projection. of self that accompanies it. The metaphorical image is there, the meta-morph operates, capturing a fraction of tangible reality captured by the eye of the photographer which would remain elusive without it .
Véronique Sablery January 2024
Véronique Sablery : Méta-morphe
January 9 – February 5, 2024
S. une galerie – Le Select –
99 bd. Montaparnasse
75006 Paris
