« By a small gesture which consists of moving the glance, it makes visible what is visible, makes appear what is so close, so immediate, so intimately linked to us that because of that we do not see it »
Michel Foucault, "La scène de la philosophie", Dits et écrits 1954-1988, III. 1976-1979
The exhibition Mélange, Galerie C's very first collaboration with the artist Damien Cadio, is a framework for the artist's recent work. An attempt of painting where the heterogeneity of the exposed elements stirs correspondences, dissonances and oscillations. Thus, the strange still lifes, the landscapes in flames, the close up answer each other in the space of the gallery and, all mixed genres, interact with each other.
In this Mixture survive forms and impressions. Bridges, links and paths are born, making us question, sometimes within ourselves - in introspection - and sometimes on a monumental scale, that of our world and its ills (Endless Summer, 2020). All these objective coincidences are the image of our lives, where our rationality constantly clashes with symbols, the imaginary and the psyche. They are a reminder of our existence: we tirelessly search for signs and survivals to hold on to.
In this exhibition, it is thus a matter of allowing oneself to be carried away, caught up in these ambivalences that emanate from Damien Cadio's canvases - following the example of this painting depicting an incongruous meeting of hands and crab claws (Mélange, 2021). It is a question of letting oneself be carried along to appreciate the painting as a reminiscence of past visions, lived impressions, stories at first sight banal. Because wouldn't this mixture be the characteristic of the unity? That of our lives, one, unique but with trajectories more twisted than linear? The unity of a work of painting in constellation, in atlas, which embraces the differences and leaves the field of possibilities open.
Opening of the exhibition "Mélange": Saturday March 13th 2021, 11am - 5:30 pm
Download the exhibition file : here
More information about Damien Cadio : here
