"À fleur de paume" offers a contemporary reinterpretation of the miniature within the field of visual arts. Small-format works representing portraits, body fragments, objects, or landscapes are gathered in a display, sometimes evoking a cabinet of curiosities, to better explore these cherished figures, bearers of memories, of the extraordinary and the trivial, which one holds in the palm of the hand, keeps in a corner of the mind, at the bottom of a drawer, or in a pocket.
From amulets preserving a protective magic since the illustrious times of ancient Egypt to delicately adorned letters at the beginning of chapters in medieval manuscripts, from curiosities displayed as unique wonders in the alcoves and shelves of Wunderkammer starting in the 16th century to "objects of virtue" whose refined goldsmithing reached its peak in the 18th century, from still lifes to small paintings often considered minor in the academic rankings of the past: creators of all eras, anonymous, craftsmen, or artists, have shaped artifacts and images capable of containing the world, its dark or syncretic forces, in a reduced and shifting space. On the margins of grandiloquent representations, these works are observed in an intimate and familiar relationship. It is not about staying away from beauty or turmoil, but about maintaining a distance conducive to dialogue and reflection rather than to intoxication.
May 17, 2024
