MATHIEU DUCOURNAU (NÉ EN 1965 AU MAROC) "Nymheas,"... Lot 1

MATHIEU DUCOURNAU (NÉ EN 1965 AU MAROC) "Nymheas," 2017. Cotton thread throw on canvas mounted on stretcher. H: 110 x W: 150 cm A work by the artist, "Papillon #1" is currently on display at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. "Mathieu Ducournau plays with the figurative and the abstract. Atypical artist, he chooses the thread as a privileged medium of his artistic expression. Whether this thread is abused by his sewing machine or whether it twirls freely to the canvas, like embroidery, the thread is a conductor, the revealer of a line, a look, a smile ... On the one hand, there are the topographies, which are like abstract reliefs where everyone can see what they want to see... and on the other hand, the portraits. The portrait theme is part of a pictorial tradition, but little by little, the motif will migrate, become detached, like a contemporary Shroud! With the Anonymous series, the artist transfigures each detail, until the personality of the model comes out. Then the artist continues to explore the representation of the portrait through the ages, with some great figures of the collective memory. From Velázquez to Vinci, from Rembrandt to El Greco, including the contemporary icon par excellence: the emoticon. The references and tributes flow by. Like mirages, these portraits transport us with their very special, almost ghostly presence. Portraits of memory, it is no longer we who look at the Mona Lisa or the Menina, but they who look at us. The threads used like dry paint, by blending and superimposing themselves, make these faces appear as if they were in three dimensions. They appear blurred, but become all the more real, more alive! Mathieu Ducournau was born in Morocco and lives and works in Paris. An intuitive and unusual artist, he explored the possibilities of painting on his own before meeting the thread and the potential of the sewing machine. He has been exhibiting regularly since 1996, and also collaborates with French Luxury Houses such as Taillardat or Hermès." Amélie Margot Chevalier, Artistic Director of the Chevalier Gallery, December 2017. A certificate of authenticity will be provided by the Galerie Chevalier et Parsua who represents him in Paris.