PRESENTATION: Oda Jaune-Oil of Angels

Οda Jaune uses her work to portray a tormented yet deeply poetical world. In it, images that are tender, naive and violent, occasionally erotic and funny, are mingled to gether as Jaune continues her frank exploration of a subconscious freed from convention. Her paintings are unsettling, putting the viewer in a position where abandon is the only option and inhibition is futile.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Galerie Templon Archive,

In a series of twenty oils on canvas in her solo exhibition “Oil of Angels”, Oda Jaune delves into a theme as timeless as it is universal: unconditional love. Originally from Bulgaria, Oda Jaune has spent the decade or so since her studies in Germany creating an audacious body of work, unshackled by convention. Her art is both poetic and visionary, travelling the twists and turns of the subconscious in a language that flirts with surrealism, inviting the viewer to explore emotions rarely held up to the light. Inspired by the poem “Touched by an angel” by Maya Angelou the exhibition focuses on the power of love through the fascinating prism of angels, an immortal yet paradoxical symbol. Angelic-type beings have been recognised by humans since the dawn of civilization. The archetype of communication between mortals and the divine, angels exists in almost every religion and culture appearing already 3,000 BC  in pagan art as well as , Jewish, Islamic, and later in Christian art. Through her show “Oil of Angels” Oda Jaune takes the Angel away from the religious and places it as the beings we carry from inside, digging deep into our human nature and the notion of angels as embodiment of the good inside of us. The centrepiece of the show is “M like Mother”, a remarkable five-metre-long canvas. A touching and monumental homage to maternal love, it portrays a hybrid body featuring a rounded belly nestling between four feminine legs, nonchalantly reclining on a table. Above the table a winged arm protects a fragile newborn, suggesting the power of the unconditional mother love and its ability to overcome anything. Oda Jaune’s paintings establish a captivating sensory relationship. The viewer is pulled in by the delicacy of porcelain skin before being confronted with starker elements, such as a tenderly rose landscape of flesh, evoking the idea of the placenta and a pure white jar of milk, in a representation of the first ever meal, the source of life and the moment of becoming part of the living material world, in all its splendour and cruelty. This striking contrast inevitably brings to mind the duality and the power of love, nourishing yet so fragile. With this exhibition, Oda Jaune reminds us that art is the language of the soul which is capable of posing deep questions about our beings, our decisions and existence, of its rebellion against the moment – right now, right here. “I do believe that only love is the answer. I am longing to know how deep can we as a humans love, the capability of that unconditional love to overcome the sorrow and pain, the injustice, giving us the wings to forgive the unforgivable, elevating us, leading us out of a spiral of darkness. I wanted to see the angels inside of us, I wanted to visualize love , its unconditional one transcendental value that is capable of anything!

Photo: Oda Jaune, Cache-cache, 2025, Oil on canvas, 50,5 × 61 cm — 20 × 24 in., © Oda Jaune, Courtesy the artist and Galerie Templon

Info: Galerie Templon 30 rue Beaubourg, Paris, France, Duration: 8/3-10/5/2025, Days & Hours : Tue-Sat: 10:00-19:00, www.templon.com/