ART CITIES:Berlin-Gildas Coudrais

Gildas Coudrais experiments with the most different pictures that spring from media, advertisement, family albums as well as from examples of the history of art. Combined with each other the fragments lose their traditional status and value. Taken from the context they get something mysterious, fantastic, poetic in their new cheerful, partly ironic composition with a certain kind of naivety.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: 68projects Archive

“HEAT”, Gildas Coudrais’ first solo show in Berlin is a continuation of his successful exhibitions at Villa Aurora in 2013 and 2014. The exhibition title refers both to Gildas Coudrais’ way of working and to his attempt to caricature and expose the superficiality of society and its values. The artist often incorporates quotes and poignant adages into his works, which for the most part are mirror-inverted and thus impossible to decipher at first glance, they thereby accentuate the painterly representation, functioning as a kind of subtext. The short sentences into the “Let’s talk about it…” (2014-present) are partially derived from advertising. They seem to address the viewers directly, by inviting them to engage in a quiet heart-to-heart, in the shimmering reflexion of the glass frame, the spectators catch sight of their inverted mirror images, which thus exist on the same level of perception as the inverted words. The installation “A quel sein se vouer?” is a word-play on the French words “sein” (breast) and “saint” (saint) and is informed by the spirit of Dada and Surrealism. At first glance, the work seems like a baroque installation of delicate porcelain. On closer inspection, however, it becomes clear that the material is in fact painted, molded plexiglass.

 Info: Curator: Katharina Schulenberg-Leduc, 68projects, Fasanenstraße 68, Berlin, Duration: 28/7-3/9/16, www.68projects.com