Marc Desgrandchamps, Raphaëlle Bertran Pinheiro, Ymane Chabi-Gara, Marie-Anita Gaube, Arthur Metz
Marc Desgrandschamps et ses amis
11 January – 22 February 2025
Opening: Saturday, 11 January, 11am – 7pm
Winter Gallery Tour of SpinnereiGalleries
Saturday, 11 January 2025, 11am – 7pm
Interview with Marc Desgrandchamps
EIGEN + ART: The special feature about this exhibition is the five artistic perspectives from France. How did you select the artists for this show?
Marc Desgrandchamps: These are artists whom I appreciate for the quality of their work and whom I have known for many years. For them, painting is a means of locating themselves in the world. Each of them has their own focus of interest and their own view of reality.
Marie-Anita Gaube describes strange places that are on the edge of the possible, so-called heterotopias.
Ymane Chabi-Gara paints meticulously fragmented universes in which forms take over the surface of the image.
Arthur Metz depicts moments of sadness at the end of a celebration or the promise of an exciting event to come, at dawn or dusk.
Raphaëlle Bertran Pinheiro paints undergrowth lined with figures from other space-time structures.
The works of these artists impressed me above all with the beauty they radiate.
E+A: Are there similarities or contrasts to your work that are important to you? What are the most significant differences? And what are the themes that unite you?
MD: I share with them the fact that we all work with pictorial media, but they are very different in form compared to my work. If one particular concept could bridge our differences, it might be that of place and the questioning of that place; a questioning through the gaze and the way our minds determine it; what we see depending on what we know.
E+A: Are there certain works by these artists that were particularly important to you or that you had hoped to see in the exhibition?
MD: Each work clearly has its own stylistic uniqueness and is therefore unmistakable.
Marie-Anita Gaube questions the relief and the third dimension by means of découpage and collages, sometimes harking back to the sculptures of her beginnings. Ymane Chabi-Gara's uniform areas of color lend structure to her compositions, while Arthur Metz's acrylic works with their translucent qualities almost resemble watercolors. Raphaëlle Bertran Pinheiro's restless brushwork envelops her paintings in a kind of mist. All of these artists can claim their own unique and high-quality approach, which is why I am delighted that they now have the opportunity to show their works in Leipzig.
E+A: Your latest works show a lot of water surfaces and reflections. What role do these motifs play in the exhibition?
MD: In my current works, I have focused on perspectives from the edge of the pool and look at the way in which the water surface becomes an interface between two worlds through its reflection. I am interested in this possibility of gliding back and forth between different universes. It also involves the idea of contemplation and non-action in front of things that leave their location entirely to contemplation. At the same time, this contemplation is disturbed by various elements, just as the water level is disturbed by the slightest intervention.
E+A: Many of your small paintings have become much more abstract, such as “La Maison du docteur Edwardes” or “Plage”. What inspired you to do this and how did it come about?
MD: For small canvases, I wanted to establish a faster, more improvisational approach, as with some drawings. As a result, some are on the edge of abstraction, but this abstraction is relative. For example, “La Maison du docteur Edwardes” refers to the French title of Alfred Hitchcock's film “I'm fighting for you”. The vertical struts on the canvas echo the scratches and sled tracks in the snow, the sight of which is unbearable for the hero of the movie. When I started this painting, however, I had no intention of alluding to this movie. It was only after I had painted it that I realized the connection. The subconscious plays an important role in the creation of these works.
E+A: What is the best feeling visitors should leave the exhibition with?
MD: I can't say how they should feel when they leave the exhibition. I just hope that they take the time to look closely.