“It’s censorship for painting. It’s ridiculous. This painting is a tribute to Gustave Courbet. It was not made to provoke.” Gilles Traquini is astonished, still in shock. He thought he would be able to quietly exhibit his works at the Galerie Helenbeck, rue Defly in Nice until January 16th. The discordant piece: a two-meter by two-meter painting oscillating between grayish and bluish tones, part of a trilogy titled “Do Not Forget Me.” It echoes Gustave Courbet’s The Origin of the World, painted in 1866, controversial at the time since it depicted the private parts of a Turkish diplomat’s mistress. 140 years later, in Nice, a female pubis still shocks.
“On Sunday, we were setting up the exhibition. We were doing some tests. We were checking how it looked in the display window. Two women living in the same street entered angrily, calling me a pornocrat. We tried to calm things down, but ten minutes later the police arrived.” recounts Chantal Helenbeck, the gallery owner, somewhat surprised. Not wanting to risk having to close their gallery, Chantal and Brigitte Helenbeck covered their display window and put a sign at the entrance saying “restricted to 18 and over.” “My sister and I, we are not provocateurs. I am surprised that people call the police over this. Now it feels like we’re in a sex shop,” Chantal declares amused, trying to lighten the situation.
Gilles Traquini admits he has tried to provoke before, but on different themes, not on these three paintings that form a set with multiple symbolisms: the waves, the origin of life, with an underlying tribute to Gustave Courbet. “Do Not Forget Me” has been displayed in many exhibitions without any scandal or even complaint: Montbéliard, Brussels, Villa Tamaris (with 250 visitors per day), and at the media library in Cannet des Maures with visits from many children with their classes. Gilles Traquini and Chantal Helenbeck recognize that this censorship has led to media publicity with a full page in Nice-Matin on Tuesday and a report on France3. “That was not the aim at all,” assures Chantal. The censorship has turned into an advantage. The censors have failed. Shortly before closing, a visitor entered the gallery to see the “famous controversial work.” He will undoubtedly not be the only one to open the door of the Helenbeck gallery to discover Gilles Traquini’s exhibition. It’s an opportunity to discover all his works and also to get acquainted with the gallery on rue Defly.
