The mystery of the truncated bodies

"Photographer without a camera", Katrien de Blauwer uses old magazines dating from the 1960s to compose enigmatic and sensual photomontagesPlaying with the fragmentation and obliteration of the collected images, which she does not hesitate to truncate and deface with colored pencil, she shapes fragments of narratives into which the eye loves to plunge, while imagination does its work… There, a bare back crossed out in yellow against a black rectangle; here, a mouth emerging from a cloudy sky; there, another stained with red surmounted by an iron curtain; there again, a truncated body buried under a mountainous landscape…: everything in these micro-narratives proceeds from ellipsis.

“Like reverse shots brought together on the same plane, the viewer takes over from the narrator to unfold the imaginary scenario” of these highly cinematic photomontages. As for the touches of color with which she enhances her images, the artist gives us a few clues: “Red is fear – yellow is hatred – blue is love.” A few hints thrown like dice in games of chance, because according to the
Paul Auster's quote, highlighted in the exhibition: "We are continually shaped by the forces of coincidence."

Charlotte Boudon, co-artistic director of the Les Filles du Calvaire gallery

“KATRIEN DE BLAUWER. WHY I FEAR RED, LOVE BLUE (AND) HATE YELLOW »
GALLERY THE DAUGHTERS OF CALVARY
17, RUE DES FILLES-DU-CALVAIRE, PARIS 3RD
UNTIL DECEMBER 20, 2023
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