Thibault Bissirier |
16.11.2024 |
CONTEMPORARY ART / EXHIBITIONS
A jack-of-all-trades artist, handling sculpture, painting, but also performance and installation, Jessy Razafimandimby (born in 1995, Madagascar) presents his second solo exhibition at the Sanstitle gallery, in Paris. There he reveals a body of particularly intimate painted works, notably around the theme of motherhood and parenthood.
Jessy Razafimandimby is one of those artists who cultivates a keen sense of restraint and parsimony, to which is added a deep understanding of forms, their agreement, their relationships and the effects they have on us and on our imagination . Thus we know nothing about this figure from behind, enormous and pink, crouching firmly on a yellow, sunny background (Loose love2024). No, we don’t know anything, and yet we guess, behind these rounded hips, behind the arched arm in the shape of a cradle, in the shy fold over a breast that we want to be heavy and that we imagine as such, something of ‘a mystery and immense power. Elsewhere, a Chagall-style couple embrace under a bird (Small walk Double talk2024). And then, on white backgrounds, silhouettes, postures, which are difficult to decipher, silent protagonists of a story which hesitates to let itself be told.
To understand this story, we must take the time to inquire in order to detect beneath all these strange scenes the very particular nature of the upheaval which presided over their composition: that of motherhood, the announcement of the partner’s pregnancy. of the artist. Hence this Gironde totem at the entrance to the exhibition, these tender looks and these caresses, these kinds of angels in flight towards open bellies (Daybreakers2024), hence certainly, also, this tenuous feeling of worry and doubt. This mystery and this power, which we spoke of above and which escape words, germinate in the night and spread out on the canvas in bizarre visions.
We will not be surprised to find Vuillard in the subjects reduced to large cutouts; a bit of Maurice Denis in the sinuosity of the line and the earthy colors; of Sérusier, for sure, in the dazzling yellow and the torment of the backgrounds; and Bonnard, finally, in this opaque silence of mauve and whitened evenings. In addition to the repertoire of shapes and the chromatic range, Jessy Razafimandimby shares with these Nabis painters a relationship with reality steeped in mysticism. In his own way, he continues their quest for a simple spirituality, closed in everyday life and the feverish lights of the domestic hearth. Like them, his art oscillates between dream and reality. It is a figuration with lyrical, abstract, magical escapes. Moreover, the scenography does not fail to emphasize the intimate and almost votive character of Razafimandimby’s works. Long white veils partition the space, isolating each painting and forcing a detour. Basically, following this enveloping aesthetic of “home” and interior retreat, the second room of the gallery replays the darkness of a cave. You enter as if you were entering a chapel or a refuge, barely guided by the glow of night lights, four luminary works made up of cut-outs of painted fabric mounted on metal. In this enclosure of dreams, the contours fade to the extreme limit of the perceptible. We feel the urge to whisper so as not to disturb the shadows.
If her intimate experience of parenthood remains the central theme of the exhibition, Jessy Razafimandimby places it in a broader, and above all very current, reflection around the notions of interdependence and cohabitation, with our fellow human beings as well as with the living in a way general. Thus, for example, the motif of the dog reappears (The rainbow around your neck I envy2024), this faithful companion of the being already present in some of his previous works and which concentrates in him the most striking example (the oldest?) of the concord and complicity which can be established between two species. The artist reminds us of the power of silent connections and invites us to reconsider our way of inhabiting the world, of coexisting in it. You don’t always need words to acknowledge the affection and trust you receive, sometimes a look for a yes is enough.. •
Exposition “Those yes in your eyes” by Jessy Razafimandimby
Until December 21, 2024 at Untitled
13, rue Michel le Comte – 75003 Paris
sanstitre.gallery
View of the exhibition “Those yes in your eyes” by Jessy Razafimandimby, Untitled, 2024. Courtesy of the artist and the gallery. Photo: Aurélien Mole.
Jessy Razafimandimby, The rainbow around your neck I envy2024, acrylic on bed sheet, 125 x 45 cm. Courtesy of the artist and the gallery. Photo: Aurélien Mole.
View of the exhibition “Those yes in your eyes” by Jessy Razafimandimby, Untitled, 2024. Courtesy of the artist and the gallery. Photo: Aurélien Mole.
Jessy Razafimandimby, Daybreakers2024, acrylic on bed sheet, 100 x 75 cm. Courtesy of the artist and the gallery. Photo: Aurélien Mole.
View of the exhibition “Those yes in your eyes” by Jessy Razafimandimby, Untitled, 2024. Courtesy of the artist and the gallery. Photo: Aurélien Mole.
Jessy Razafimandimby, Small walk Double talk (detail), 2024, acrylic on bed sheet, 100 x 20 cm. Courtesy of the artist and the gallery. Photo: Aurélien Mole.
View of the exhibition “Those yes in your eyes” by Jessy Razafimandimby, Untitled, 2024. Courtesy of the artist and the gallery. Photo: Aurélien Mole.
Jessy Razafimandimby, She is my weakness now2024, acrylic on bed sheet, steel structure, light bulb, 44 x 27 x 28 cm. Courtesy of the artist and the gallery. Photo: Aurélien Mole.
Jessy Razafimandimby, Nocturnal coquette2024, acrylic on bed sheet, steel structure, bulb, 45 x 36.5 x 22.5 cm. Courtesy of the artist and the gallery. Photo: Aurélien Mole.
