Drawing by Numbers
Group show à l’Espace A VENDRE
December 7, 2013 – January 25, 2014
Espace à Vendre, 10 rue Assalit, Nice
From the Lascaux cave to Pop Art, including Giotto and Raphael, from post-surrealism to conceptual art, drawing remains one of the most widely used means of expression in artistic creation.
For its first group exhibition in the new venue on rue Assalit, L’Espace A VENDRE “calls to arms” fifteen of its artists, with a single command: to draw.
Artists
Thierry Agnone, Ben (Vautier), Baptiste César, Thierry Chiapparelli, Karim Ghelloussi, Thierry Lagalla, Martinet & Texereau, Gabriel Méo, Charlotte Pringuey-Cessac, Stéphane Protic, Philippe Ramette, Emmanuel Régent, Franck Saïssi, Quentin Spohn, Stéphane Steiner.
Dans Drawing by Numbers, les artistes confirmés comme Ben ou Philippe Ramette et les jeunes diplômés de la Villa Arson – Quentin Spohn et Gabriel Méo, se confrontent sur le terrain de l’encre et du crayon sur papier. Tour à tour, parfois en même temps, les références à l’histoire de l’art, la virtuosité technique ou la critique de la société se succèdent dans leurs œuvres, entre retour aux sources et contemporanéité.
One can recognize the sharp and cruel social satire of the Nordic Neue Sachlichkeit in the grotesque, distorted-faced figures by Quentin Spohn. The skeletons sketched by Thierry Agnone or Franck Saïssi evoke the 17th-century vanitas tradition, showcasing displays of technical virtuosity.
The sad or incongruous figures by Baptiste César, Thierry Lagalla, or Stéphane Steiner seem to emerge directly from the popular culture of the postmodern world, while the vignettes by Philippe Ramette and the motionless crowds sketched by Emmanuel Régent suspend both time and judgment.
The stolen kisses in the streets of Istanbul by Charlotte Pringuey-Cessac tell of the rules imposed by certain societies and the beauty that sometimes hides in tiny transgressions. The intense black-and-white portraits by Thierry Chiapparelli and the blurred landscapes by Martinet & Texereau echo each other, successive framings of a shared narrative: while the former sketches the characters, the young duo invents a possible world for them.
The best, as Voltaire wrote?