From March 1st to August 25, 2024, the Villa Arson hosts three exhibitions “Who’s Afraid of Chantal Montellier?, Paraside 2.0 – Gently Brut, and Canemorto – In Search of the Ultimate Work”.
Come and discover the three unique exhibitions offered by Villa Arson. These three proposals highlight different fields of creation, ranging from drawing to comics, architecture and design, through painting, graffiti and art brut, down to video.
The first exhibition highlights the artist Chantal Montellier, a prominent female figure engaged in the field of comics. The other two exhibitions have been entrusted to two Italian artist collectives. The collective Parasite 2.0 has imagined its works by drawing inspiration from the Villa Arson itself, proposing the creation of architectural structures outside the building. The artists Canemorto have, on their part, imagined a fiction around the figure of the owner of the Villa, Pierre-Joseph Arson.
Who’s Afraid of Chantal Montellier?
Too often relegated to the background, her art should have been the center of attention. This exhibition of the artist Chantal Montellier focuses on the most prolific period of her career. From 1978 to 1994, Chantal Montellier produced one of the most unique comic book corpora in its persistent critical relationship with the world. From her beginnings at Charlie Mensuel, to her comic “Ah! Nana and Métal Hurlant” to the publication of the third adventure of Julie Bristol, you will be able to find all her works there.
The exhibition aims to highlight a body of work that has become often unknown: a work intended for an adult audience at a time when comics were exceeding the limits of a youth readership. Montellier’s work stands out as one of the most authentically adult ever produced in the field of European comics.
Parasite 2.0 – Gently Brut
The collective Parasite 2.0, formed by Stefano Colombo, Eugenio Cosentino, and Luca Marullo, Italian architects and designers, will present a series of works on the terraces and in the gardens. These voluminous pieces will engage in a dialogue with the architecture of Villa Arson, thus offering an immersive and innovative artistic experience.
Canemorto – In Search of the Ultimate Work
Canemorto, an Italian artist trio, presents an exhibition based on the legends surrounding the figure of Pierre-Joseph Arson. Through a pictorial cycle and a short film, they will retrace the life stages of the merchant and banker after whom the Villa is named, and who inspired Balzac in his novel “The Quest of the Absolute”.
