Until October 19, the Templon gallery presents: Nuit électrique (Electric night) by Pierre & Gilles. The gallery sent us this text:
For over forty years, Pierre & Gilles have been creating dreamlike portraits on the border between painting and photography. With their new exhibition Nuit électrique, the duo assumes their longevity, their place as portraitist of the era and pioneer of LGBTQI+ issues. Yet it is always when we think we know them by heart that Pierre and Gilles surprise us. With their new paintings, created over the last two years, the artists have fun with their status as icons to create a gallery of nocturnal and offbeat portraits.
Since 1976, the couple formed by Pierre the photographer and Gilles the painter have established a unique language mixing references to popular culture and the history of art, both marvelous and subversive, unusual and engaged. Haunted by the artificial light of neon lights, their new series, never seen before, possesses the light of the lowlands and artificial paradises. Euphoric nostalgia for the Palace years, the legendary club with which they are so often associated, or a disillusioned look at a world where all struggles are perhaps won? Pierre and Gilles feature some of their favorite characters – the sailor, the angel, the thug, the poulbot. They are placed in undefined, shady spaces, between the club, the funfair or the cabaret. Their models, sometimes naked or tattooed, couples in love or disillusioned loners, form a seductive, joyful, vaguely disturbing crowd. In the midst of this gay, trans, mixed-race youth, Pierre & Gilles present two self-portraits. One marked with serious melancholy presents them separated. The other portrays them as perky retirees, in an outdated postcard setting. By playing on the ambiguity of registers, Pierre & Gilles embrace their “camp” universe with humor. In essence, they depict a troubled world, oscillating between optimism and disillusionment.
As a counterpoint, Pierre & Gilles unveil two portraits of their long-time muses: Amanda Lear, as a vaudeville theater actress, and Isabelle Huppert, as a majestic Mary Stuart. The two illuminate by contrast the originality of Pierre and Gilles’ new work on light. The treatment of artificial, harsh lighting, which never declines, but transfigures beings, is one of the most radical aspects of their recent practice. It can be read as a powerful metaphor for resistance to the passage of time which levels everything, existences and struggles. What goodwill has the LGBTQI+ community managed to gain after more than half a century of societal progress? What place and what consideration for today’s marginalized people?
Pierre & Gilles : Nuit électrique
Until October 19, 2024
Templon
28 rue du Grenier-Saint-Lazare
75003, Paris
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m.
www.templon.com
