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2 Déc. 2023 – 6 Janv. 2024

SONO ANDATI

"Sono andati" is the poignant peak of emotion in Giacomo Puccini's opera "La Bohème", embodying Mimi's deep longing and her brutal acceptance of impending death. This aria becomes a profound moment of introspection and vulnerability, a resounding testament to the themes of love, loss and the ephemeral nature of existence.

A feeling of abjection entwined with an ambiguous tenderness permeates the gallery space. The works of Kévin Blinderman and Adrien Fregosi evoke a violently conflicting mix of emotions, straddling the delicate boundary between farce and tragedy. Through brushstrokes and sculptures, a contemplative space emerges — a bittersweet beauty that mirrors the timeless sentiments found in Puccini's masterpiece, delving into themes of love, sacrifice, and illness.

"My Life is a Drama, with a Beginning, a Middle and No End," the discovered teddy bear, emerges as a vortex of mixed emotions. Perched atop a monumental socle, the teddy bear gains a sense of grandiosity despite its dirt, age, and abandonment: a monument of melancholy.

Surrounding this plinth, Adrien’s paintings of dogs and personnages resist the promise of translation. They are fleeting instances, almost timeless moments, that confront us with feelings of ambiguity, concern, and tenderness dealing with life as much as they announce death. The metonym is the message: narratives of latent and manifested desires. His pictorial language signifies the absences of something that comes from the paradoxical entanglement of loss and love, the combination of pain and pleasure, a reference to the past, our lives, our memories.

Adrien's fascination with dogs comes from the American comedy "Best in Show," depicting the behind-the-scenes of a canine beauty contest. For him, it mirrors societal reflections of seduction, parades, and sham. The dog becomes a symbolic embodiment of the primitive psyche of humanity — a manifestation of what makes us human, and what renders us sauvage, yet revealing our most able empathic encounters.

But dogs do not know the meaning of yesterday or today, they move and rest without consciousness of the passing of the day, taking up with the love they receive, the glory of the moment, feeling neither melancholy nor satiety. Perhaps this is why the dog is ever so present in these works; perhaps they manifest a desire of not arising to these sentiments, because how do you react to the drowning feeling of melancholy? You just ignore it and move on, or become paralyzed by its weight. Adrien translates it into painting. His references undergo extreme simplification, a deliberate choice to accentuate the presence — our presence — in the world. In this simplicity, the canvases echo with the cadence of joyful moments and deceptions, urgency, courage, and the inexorable dance between life and death.

Downstairs, a melody lures us in to an immaculate space enchanted by the live version of Sono Andati. Kevin diverges from his usual exploration of darkness with a sound installation: a hybrid sculpture sculpture made by standing speakers embracing an empty and disembodied aesthetic. Kevin embarks on a new chapter in his career, shifting from electronic compositions to embrace a new musical genre that nevertheless elicits the familiar intense sense of helplessness and assured disaster of his previous sculptural complexes.

Before modernism, sculptures stood as solemn markers, tethered to pedestals, signifying locations with a sense of permanence. Kevin's sculpture, however, seamlessly blends this with contemporary forms. Within the logic of representation and marking, the pedestal emerges as an integral component, acting as a mediator between the site and the symbolic sign. The base metamorphoses into a morphological force, propelling the figurative essence of the speakers.

Inspired by the XIX century, when the opera was released, Kevin ventures into painting for the first time. He endeavors to weave traditional forms into his contemporary practice. Utilizing Artificial Intelligence as a creative tool, he generates paintings in the styles of master artists, bridging the past and present. Kevin employs AI to craft new works using "Gay kiss" as prompt. The generated image is then translated onto canvas by an artist, establishing a meaningful connection with his overarching practice, rooted in collaboration and collectivity. The decision for this prompt is not an arbitrary one, but finds its root in a critical examination of one of modernism's iconic masterpieces—The Kiss by Gustav Klimt. Here, Kevin keenly discerns a void in the representation of this subject matter, within the works of the masters he deeply admires. Kevin’s paintings are a rebellious act of rewriting and repairing, infusing fragments of art history with portrayals that were previously absent, particularly within the context of homosexuality. In doing so, Kevin adds his identity to mend the gaps left in the history of images.

The pairing of Kévin Blinderman and Adrien Fregosi may not seem obvious at first — their practices differ, they hail from different frame of references, and their relation to the world diverge. Yet, in this proximity, they weave together an emotional response ultimately underscoring the fragile and impermanent nature of life itself.

— Valentina Rosas

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Adrien Fregosi
Untitled, 2023
Peinture en aérosol sur papier
Spray paint on paper
102 x 72 cm

Untitled, 2023
Peinture en aérosol sur papier
Spray paint on paper
102 x 72 cm

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KĂ©vin Blinderman
My Life is a Drama, with a Beginning, a Middle and No End, 2023
Peluche trouvée
Found teddy bear
50 x 50 x 55 cm

Adrien Fregosi
Untitled, 2023
Peinture en aérosol sur papier
Spray paint on paper
102 x 72 cm

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Adrien Fregosi
Untitled, 2023
Peinture à l'huile et aérosol sur toile
Oil and spray paint on canvas
101,5 x 101,5 x 3 cm

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Adrien Fregosi
Mimi & Rodolfo, 2023
Peinture en aérosol sur papier
Spray paint on paper
102 x 72 cm

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Adrien Fregosi
Mimì, 2023
Peinture en aérosol sur papier
Spray paint on paper
102 x 72 cm

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Adrien Fregosi
Untitled, 2023
Peinture à l'huile et aérosol sur toile
Oil and spray paint on canvas
101,5 x 101,5 x 3 cm

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KĂ©vin Blinderman
Sono Andati, 2023
Enceintes, trépieds, cables, lecteur, socle
Speakers, tripods, cables, player, stand
audio : 9'40"
Installation Dimensions variables

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KĂ©vin Blinderman
Bisous Caramel 2, 2023
Peinture Ă  l'huile sur toile
Oil canvas
55 x 40 cm

KĂ©vin Blinderman
Sono Andati, 2023
Enceintes, trépieds, cables, lecteur, socle
Speakers, tripods, cables, player, stand
audio : 9'40"
Installation Dimensions variables

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KĂ©vin Blinderman
Bisou Caramel 1, 2023
Peinture Ă  l'huile sur toile
Oil on canvas
45 x 32 cm

KĂ©vin Blinderman
Sono Andati, 2023
Enceintes, trépieds, cables, lecteur, socle
Speakers, tripods, cables, player, stand
audio : 9'40"
Installation Dimensions variables

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KĂ©vin Blinderman
Sono Andati, 2023
Enceintes, trépieds, cables, lecteur, socle
Speakers, tripods, cables, player, stand
audio : 9'40"
Installation Dimensions variables

KĂ©vin Blinderman
Bisous Caramel 2, 2023
Peinture Ă  l'huile sur toile
Oil canvas
55 x 40 cm

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KĂ©vin Blinderman
Bisou Caramel 1, 2023
Peinture Ă  l'huile sur toile
Oil on canvas
45 x 32 cm

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