On the occasion of the reopening of the Gallery, 15 rue Guénégaud in Paris, I wanted to present the artists around a theme: Work in progress.
The idea is to show unpublished work, resulting from work in progress. I asked each artist to explain to me in writing what their intentions were and how they positioned themselves in relation to contemporary art. I wanted to give the floor to artists about questions that curators, critics or even galleries normally answer.
Each with his-her own universe, his-her own writing, presents a work announcing a current reflection. Two major axes emerge. On the one hand, there are those who illustrate the world in transformation: “the world in progress”, through themes such as the quest for identity, the status of images or global warming. In addition, some artists question our origin and our functioning: the time, the memory of the body, the uniqueness of the cultures or the dream.
Christophe Beauregard revolutionizes the portrait by reversing the perspective and traditional codes between colored backgrounds and neutral outfits. Time seems to stop as subjects remain in a perpetual and moving quest for their identity.
Sylvie Bonnot questions the status of images. Photography is the core of her work, but through her art approach, she tends towards sculpture or installation, among others. What pleases her the most in photography, is to elaborate it in the moment or with minutia, to deconstruct it in its thickness with the art elaborated in her workshop, to get to grip with it.
Tania Brassesco and Lazlo Passi Norberto, through stageded photography, take us into a universes full of symbols and history. The past reappears and reveals buried feelings, like a dream of which we will never know the end.
Fabien de Chavanes represents four variations of a single choreography of a character dressed in white or black, inside a white cube. This cube becomes a frame. The body becomes plain. The body (sign) becomes a measure of time through its movements. In this last work, Fabien questions the status of the image which in turn takes shape. The character, taken between several dimensions, thus acquires a new one.
Xavier Dumoulin wants to testify to the causes and consequences of global warming revealing our consumption, representing a tropical vegetation in the heart of the Pyrenees at night, lit by neon lights.
Christine Mathieu brings out the uniqueness of cultures through textile pieces from heritage and museum collections.
Laurence Nicola recreates the images of a dream, timeless. It makes us lose our bearings while retranscribing states, emotions and unsaid things.
Bertrand Robert questions our physical and emotional memory mechanisms recorded by our body, through drawing and writing.
Ségolène Brossette, February 2019
Work in progress
from May 21 to July 20, 2019
Ségolène Brossette Gallery
15 Guénégaud Street
75006 Paris
segolenebrossette.com
