- This event has passed.
EVENT DESCRIPTION
La Galerie Paris 1839 is delighted to present French painter Cédrix Crespel and French 3D photo collage artist Camile Levert. The exhibition will be held from 30th November 2023 to 20th January 2024, with the opening night on 30th November 2023, 6:30 – 8:30pm.
DEEP POLA – Cédrix Crespel
A selection of paintings inspired by the polaroids of Crespel’s muse Tiphaine. It is a photographic conversation between the married couple: Crespel, the man, through his work as a painter, and Tiphaine, the woman, simultaneously as muse, photographer, subject and object of desire, have managed to reconcile in their daily life as a couple. While Tiphaine captures the sincere photographs without specific tricks and aesthetic pretence, Crespel’s romanticism gives imaginative details to his paintings.
Crespel questions on the representation of Woman. His painting is a sensual odyssey that he depicts images of independent and passionate women who play the roles that society is willing to give them. He finds the answer through his paintings. He immerses himself physically in his art without being inhibited by conceptual, semantic and rational concerns.
On the canvas, Crespel’s brushes slowly shift from the wide-angle framing/ effect-searching mise en scène, to focus on details and gestures, shapes, movements and colours. Around these, shapes decompose in favour of sensations. Through synthetic tones and matrix lines, Crespel creates figures that refer to times that are no more. Crespel frees the canvas from excessive diluted stories and insists on one single element that he complements or colours with sensory stimulators. He abandons wide shots, narrows down the frames and clears himself from resemblance or plausibility. He becomes obsessed with formalising a balance that matches the tone that Tiphaine’s Polaroids inspire him. He chooses the close shot. He deconstructs his language and makes sentences easier. He focuses on capturing something instead of trying to tell something by any means.
Neons – Camile Levert
The neon signs are disappearing from Hong Kong streets, and they will soon no longer diffuse the iconic and cinematographic radiance that makes Hong Kong night’s glowing so special. More than just simple advertising messages, they are often adorned with artistic characters and graphics that are first hand-drawn on a paper. As a matter of fact, Hong Kong traditional neon signs are entirely handmade, and require particular skills that will be unfortunately lost in the modernization of the city. Camille Levert’s three dimensional embroidered artwork is a tribute to the iconic Hong Kong neon signs, the handmade craftsmanship, and the past Hong Kong culture and identity.
Camille Levert has created thousands of pictures of her adopted town of Hong Kong. Her sharp eye captures the local culture and fragile historical testimonies, which becomes more fleeting as these visual markers continue to disappear.
Through a combination of original photo documentation, found imagery, and mixed media, she creates layered three-dimensional objects with assiduous care. Each piece consists of a combination of more than ten layers of photographs, collaged vintage magazine imagery and/or hand sewn embroidery. The effect is of a time-space clash. The viewer is invited to immerse in these poetic and meticulous works where present and past meet, continuing to reveal Levert’s strong connection to Hong Kong.
Staircases – Camile Levert
In the old buildings, staircases directly open onto the street. The eye can follow their path, we can imagine other lives up there. A world of possible lives… But we will not climb up. They remain secret. Then we continue our walk and forget… Camille Levert’s series invites our imagination in those so banal – so extraordinary staircases. Her technique enhances the mystery: it is a faithful and subtle metamorphosis of the everyday architecture. The staircases catches the attention : the building, the men, the town disappear. Our fantasy is free to recreate its own projection.
ABOUT THE ARTIST / ORGANISER
Cédrix Crespel was born in France in 1974. In 1993, he began professionally as a designer draftsman in a design office and then as an art collector. He then turns to design, interior design, photography and painting. Crespel has participated in numerous exhibitions and international art fairs in France and abroad. His art depicts images of independent and passionate women who play the roles that society is willing to give them, also examining the representation of women in the society.Camille Levert was born in France in 1974. She is a photographer and collage artist. She has been living in Hong Hong since 2015.
After studying foreign languages (English and Chinese, LVQ level 5) and new technologies, Camille worked 12 years in public relations (food & beverage marketing), including 4 years in Beijing. In January 2009, she left the marketing world and settled as a full-time freelance photographer, and started to work on her first collage pieces.
Since 2016 Camille has fully integrated the three-dimensional photo-collage technique into her artistic work, which allows her to push the boundaries of photography and explore new fields such as time layers and distortion of reality.
