With
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.
In Drawing by Numbers, established artists like Ben and Philippe Ramette, alongside recent graduates from Villa Arson — Quentin Spohn and Gabriel Méo — engage in a dialogue using ink and pencil on paper. Their works alternate, sometimes simultaneously, between references to art history, technical virtuosity, and social critique, oscillating between a return to origins and contemporary perspectives.
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?
