As part of the 70th anniversary of the association: Union Méditerranéenne pour l’Art Moderne, created by Matisse and Bonnard, Galerie Depardieu has given Carte Blanche to Simone Dibo Cohen for this exhibition featuring three artists, which will continue until February 13th.
We think of Ecclesiastes, everything is called into question: life, death, life, an endless cycle. Sun-bleached skulls, men, women? That is not the question; there is no question at all, just an observation, one that seeks to understand and know the future of beings and things. The afterlife? Yes, for believers, a question without an answer for non-believers, posing it suggests there is an after, animate or inanimate, and these skulls are the witnesses.
Jean Philippe Pernot aligns his skulls against a black background, dark as night, is death an eternal night? No! A red cross, a resplendent sun, brings hope. But the vanity of all pride, the artist reminds us of the inevitable end of our physical body. There is no more vanity, Ecclesiastes confirms it. Once, these skulls had hair, and another artist, Simon Couvin, presents us with hair and fur in all their forms. These are sculptures, and through the magic of sound, this hair identifies with branches where the birds’ song can be heard.
The artist makes nests from them, the genesis of life, a beginning and an end. Hair continues to grow for three days after death; thus, they are witnesses to the afterlife and perhaps reveal its secret to us. The third artist, Nasr Eddine Bennacer, takes us into a poetic and fabulous universe. There is poetry, the magic of words and images, fables, and thus a moral. He makes us aware of a world where everything is manipulation and illusion.
This artist concludes the exhibition magnificently by demonstrating the absurdity of a society where everything is commodified, individualistic, and consumed. Here, too, vanity is denounced: To be the one who has, and then what? No, life and humanity are more than just always having more, a race forward, a race to the abyss, the vanity of being. Here, only one question, the right question, will be asked: Can this continue? “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity!”
A video completes the exhibition, a cello on a landing, a staircase, hair cascading down, and music that captures and seizes us.
Thierry Jan
The site of Galerie Depardieu
