Felines, giraffes, seals... In 2005, Gilles Aillaud died, an artist who had devoted himself to the intense representation of animals, often cloistered in enclosures. However, his paintings, contemporary with the beginnings of Pop art and its craze for consumer goods, do not give off any exotic flavor. Behind the appearance of simple animal representations lies our relationship with nature, emerging as the unique and true subject of his work. An in-depth analysis is required through the retrospective orchestrated by Didier Ottinger, curator of the exhibition, which is perfectly in line with the questions of our time.
Date: from October 4, 2023 to February 26, 2024
Desire: Painting, animals, nature, society, environment
EXHIBITION FINISHED
When Gilles Aillaud was asked about his almost exclusive choice to paint animals, his answer was concise: “Because I love them”. Although contemporary with early Pop works, with their more or less distant fascination with consumer products and mass communication, Gilles Aillaud's subject could initially seem exotic. However, contemporary questions about our relationship with the living make its iconography less out of place and highlight the importance of this long-awaited retrospective.
This exhibition offers the opportunity to (re)discover the work of Gilles Aillaud, thus following in the footsteps of recent exhibitions devoted to artists such as Georgia O'Keeffe or Germaine Richier. The manifest objectivity of his art establishes him as the precursor of a new generation of artists captivated by a realism borrowed from modern image technologies. Without having embraced a career as a philosopher, Gilles Aillaud found his way in painting. This primary vocation bequeathed to his art a hybrid nature, evoking what Chinese tradition described as “literate painting”.
Rather than philosophically embodying an ideology, Gilles Aillaud set about “philosophically painting”. Behind the appearance of simple animal representations, our relationship with nature emerges as the unique and true subject of his work. His "humility" technique gives substance to the dream of reconciliation, moving away from any desire for "mastery" and "possession" of the world. Contemporary questions about our relationship with life further underline the importance of this long-awaited retrospective.
Date: from October 4, 2023 to February 26, 2024
Desire: Painting, animals, nature, society, environment
Comments