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- 10 - 19
From 9 March to 15 April 2023, the exhibition entitled “Rien n'échappe à la lumière” (Nothing escapes the light), featuring the works of Odile Mir, Thomas Paquet and Léonie Alma Mason, brings together architecture, contemporary art, photography and design.
In 1993, the French sculptor and designer Odile Mir created La Nef Solaire. Located in the public space, near Avignon, in the South of France, the monumental work quickly established itself as an emblematic and mysterious monument, drawing several thousands of visitors each year. Coming straight out of the artist's mind (and with the help of the astronomer Denis Savoie), this exceptional work of art was to become the largest sundial in the world. Like the faces of a modern pyramid, the large sails of white concrete, rising up to seventeen meters, cast the shadows of the Sun and Moon, and give passers-by the solar time.
To celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the sculpture, Léonie Alma Mason, architect and granddaughter of Odile Mir - together they founded LOMM Éditions in order to reissue Odile Mir's creations - asks Thomas Paquet to revisit La Nef Solaire, thus committing himself in the intergenerational dialogue she had started with her grandmother. The encounter is an immediate match between the three creators and a large amount of fascinating ideas arise. Questioning the notions of space, light and time, Thomas Paquet found his alter ego in Odile Mir, and the two artists quickly set to work. Whether he be inspired by the Nef itself and its constituent elements, the trajectory of the sun and the measure of time, or by the poetry it induces, Thomas Paquet then composes a series of photosensitive pieces and develops 4-handed works, in close collaboration with the artist 50 years his senior.
But the exhibition by no means stops here though! When Léonie Alma Mason showed Thomas Paquet the pieces of furniture created by her grandmother in the 1970s that she is reediting, they decided to revisit the FILO maxi armchair. Thomas Paquet started to use the natural leather of the seat as a photosensitive surface, and exposed it to the sun according to a precise protocol, thus giving birth to three new and unique versions of the famous armchair by Odile Mir.
Through the inexhaustible sources of inspiration that are light and time, and without ever straying from the purity of the geometric forms prevailing both in Odile Mir's La Nef Solaire and in the furniture by LOMM Éditions, Thomas Paquet created a variety of pieces, using all the techniques he cherishes, from photograms to cut-out pieces, photoengravings, silver gelatin prints and cyanotypes!
A concept book-object, placing the reader and the sun at the heart of the creation process, completes the exhibition and allows everyone to leave with a unique piece.
French-Canadian artist born in 1979, Thomas Paquet questions the nature of time, the structure of its uninterrupted flow and the dynamics of its movement. Thomas Paquet’s work revolves around the fundamental characteristics of photography, light, space and time, in attempt to create and propose viewers a sensitive experience of the world.
His approach to photography is direct, practical. Experimentation is often central to his research and for each of his projects, a specific procedure is implemented, whether optical, physical or chemical. If silver gelatin films are often at the heart of his creative process, he also uses alternative techniques such as instant films, wet collodion, cyanotypes and other 19th century techniques.
The works produced reveal a truly contemporary dimension while exploring the possibilities and limits of the photographic document from within. They are an invitation to go beyond our representation of reality, blurring the boundaries between science and poetry, materiality and abstraction, objectivity and subjectivity.
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Nef_solaire
Press contacts
Agence Dezarts
Eloïse Merle: +33 6 12 81 03 92
Marion Galvain: + 33 6 22 45 63 33
agence@dezarts.fr
LOMM Editions
Armance Communication
Romain Mangion: +33 1 83 06 20 09
romain@armance.co
Bigaignon
18, rue du Bourg-Tibourg
75004 Paris, France
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