La Couleur de La Peau
Opening March 17, 2016
Exhibition until May 7, 2016
featuring: Victoire Cathalan, Fernando de la Rocque and Julien Spiewak.
Cultural miscegenation: cultural production resulting from the mutual influence of civilizations in contact with each other – Petit Larousse dictionary.
One of notable features of 20th century’s art is the abandonment of standard to slip into the mixed culture. Considering that the diversity of productions is manifested by a de-compartmentalization of traditional artistic categories -- painting, sculpture, architecture - artistic creation can be likened to the exploration of an "open field" in which hybrid or radically new productions have appeared.
Impossible to be classified in old categories, these new productions had to recur to an abundant invention of new terms, such as: performance, body art, land art, conceptual art, minimal art, installation, etc. The openness to all forms of expression and the recognition of the most diverse artistic behaviours blurred the signs of stable reference points. This miscegenation happened through encounters, dialogues, borrowings, in an attempt to renew practices, extend art and broaden horizons.
The colour of the skin makes us think of many things, people, countries, cultures, etc. This exhibition aims to inquire the public through the unexpected appearance of miscegenation: the integration, the pleasure, and the symbiosis. This is exactly what we find in the works of each of the artists featured here:
Victoire Cathalan is devoted to drawing and to painting. She develops a universe which is at the border of the human and plant worlds, with the skin linking them. The bark and skin integrate the outer and inner worlds, the candidness and the sensuality. She translates the material used in the subject with a painting that is sensitive to touch.
Fernando de la Rocque showcases the pleasure. The artist invites the public to participate in an orgy with his interactive work "Lambe-lambe". This piece of art was designed to be ephemeral on wallpaper pasted against the gallery wall, with markers available to the public so that they can participate and colour the body using a variety of colours. Fernando continues his search using different media, such as embroidery or ceramic.
Julien Spiewak produces since 2005 the photographic series "Corps de style” (Body of Style) inside museums and private collections in France and abroad. He confronts epoch and style furniture with the skin nudity by introducing a body part in the decoration. Epoch and style furniture gives way to a sometimes disturbing and amusing living element, always in a discreet way.
Looking closely, and according to the images, unexpected details appear in the form of human body fragments. They are more or less integrated in the furniture where, depending on the case, they come to slip into with humour, grace, lightness or discretion, sometimes blending with the armchairs, perfectly fitting their shapes and curves. The symbiosis is perfect between the ribs of skin and those of the wood or the marble.