Parlons d'Animaux
The exhibition
At l'Association Fertile, a new exhibition, Parlons d'animaux, curated by Marguerite Pilven, highlights nineteen contemporary artists united by a deep-seated, less humanistic and more animal sentiment. Gilles Aillaud, Mathilde Cazes, Maude Maris and Olivier Leroy give language back to animals, cutting them off from the self-centred world of man.
The first room reveals a sensitive fauna, a tangible space between movement and life. Christine Lefebvre captures animal life in several small black-and-white frames, depicting shadows, dark forests and courtships. Sylvain Roche, meanwhile, welcomes us into the world of birds with colorful, texturally dynamic canvases. Through the emancipation of our human gaze, Parlons d'animaux brings us back to the reality of a life that is more delicate, slower and more muted than our own.
The first floor offers artists a wider, freer field for experimentation, where sculptures, drawings and paintings create a dialogue between beings. Nicolas Darrot exhibits works using astonishing techniques, from Marseilles soap to glass, forming a reinvented cabinet of curiosities, a veritable ode to animal life. Lucie Picandet gradually stifles human speech with her series of zoomorphic hands, from which we borrow the exhibition title “Parlons d'animaux” (“Let's talk about animals”). In this series, language is no longer oral, but gives way to touch, materialized by large organic hands. Lucie Picandet writes, “these animal hands, raised to give their word of honor, reveal within their palms the intimacy of their singular relationship with the world, whether it be the earth that must be dug, the wood of the tree that must be scratched or the water in which one must slide to live...”. For artist Chloé Poizat, language is created by staring: the eyes stop us, question us. Silence settles in.
In this harmony of the sensitive, Gilles Aillaud, an artist of an older generation associated with the narrative figuration movement of the early 1960s, introduces a political dimension through several pencil drawings on stone. By denouncing the silent and unpunished sequestration of animals in zoos, Aillaud, an artist committed to the animal cause, echoes the concerns of other artists, while anchoring their statements in a long history of criticism of the human-animal relationship.
“Parlons d'Animaux” invites us to reconsider our place, to better listen to a less audible word, and to appreciate an often forgotten world. The exhibition invites us to deep introspection, to rethink our interactions and coexistence with all forms of life.
The first room reveals a sensitive fauna, a tangible space between movement and life. Christine Lefebvre captures animal life in several small black-and-white frames, depicting shadows, dark forests and courtships. Sylvain Roche, meanwhile, welcomes us into the world of birds with colorful, texturally dynamic canvases. Through the emancipation of our human gaze, Parlons d'animaux brings us back to the reality of a life that is more delicate, slower and more muted than our own.
The first floor offers artists a wider, freer field for experimentation, where sculptures, drawings and paintings create a dialogue between beings. Nicolas Darrot exhibits works using astonishing techniques, from Marseilles soap to glass, forming a reinvented cabinet of curiosities, a veritable ode to animal life. Lucie Picandet gradually stifles human speech with her series of zoomorphic hands, from which we borrow the exhibition title “Parlons d'animaux” (“Let's talk about animals”). In this series, language is no longer oral, but gives way to touch, materialized by large organic hands. Lucie Picandet writes, “these animal hands, raised to give their word of honor, reveal within their palms the intimacy of their singular relationship with the world, whether it be the earth that must be dug, the wood of the tree that must be scratched or the water in which one must slide to live...”. For artist Chloé Poizat, language is created by staring: the eyes stop us, question us. Silence settles in.
In this harmony of the sensitive, Gilles Aillaud, an artist of an older generation associated with the narrative figuration movement of the early 1960s, introduces a political dimension through several pencil drawings on stone. By denouncing the silent and unpunished sequestration of animals in zoos, Aillaud, an artist committed to the animal cause, echoes the concerns of other artists, while anchoring their statements in a long history of criticism of the human-animal relationship.
“Parlons d'Animaux” invites us to reconsider our place, to better listen to a less audible word, and to appreciate an often forgotten world. The exhibition invites us to deep introspection, to rethink our interactions and coexistence with all forms of life.
When
22/05/2025 - 21/06/2025