Jean-Marie Appriou, Victor Man: Press release

 

Location
Brunnenstr. 22, Berlin, Germany

Dates
April 28 – May 21, 2023

 

We're pleased to present Jean-Marie Appriou, Victor Man, a duo exhibition curated in collaboration with Charlotte Eytan. It features a juxtaposition of one work by each artist, initiating a thought-provoking conversation between two contemporary artists working in different mediums. The interplay between their works invites us to reexamine our assumptions and deepen our understanding of the intricacies of the human condition.

Man’s painting, Untitled (The White Shadow of His Talent), is part of a series that portrays human figures in various stages of creation and decay. Through his use of dark and muted color palettes, Man blurs the line between life and death, beauty and decay, and creation and destruction. The fragmented human forms depicted in the painting are caught in a state of metamorphosis, shifting between different states of being. Appriou’s sculpture The Orphans of the sun (Blind) similarly evokes a sense of uncanniness, with its otherworldly appearance and mismatched eyes. The sculpture resembles a peculiar, hyper-realistic depiction of a human head that could resemble a mask. The use of contrasting materials in Appriou’s sculpture highlights the dual nature of the work, presenting the viewer with a distorted representation of the figure.

Both works explore a deep exploration on the complexities of the human psyche, including mortality, identity, and the interplay between the physical and abstract realms. Appriou’s sculpture employs metallic materials that evoke the decay and deterioration seen in Man’s paintings, resulting in imagery that is both familiar and otherworldly. Man’s painting portrays a ghostly figure painted in white without a head, positioned alongside a dark figure bending down with a hat, his face concealed. The figures appear interconnected, with the white figure potentially representing a ghost or spirit of the other. This doubling and mirroring is reminiscent of Appriou’s metallic sculpture, whose mask-like appearance doubles or mirrors the human form. These works create a disquieting atmosphere, prompting the viewer to contemplate the fluidity of identity and the complex relationship between the physical and abstract, the tangible and intangible, the familiar and the unknown.

Through a dynamic interplay of realism and abstraction, the two artists delve into the profound and universal themes of human existence – the fleeting nature of life, the elusive nature of memory, and the enigmatic nature of the self. Employing techniques such as fragmentation, distortion, and superimposition, they create a powerful synergy that draws the viewer into a thought-provoking dialogue between the two works. As the boundaries between reality and imagination, life and death, and the natural and the artificial blur, the exhibition invites us to confront our own perceptions, and the essence of what it means to be human.

Charlotte Eytan