Exhibit "Paintings" by Sebastièn Mehal

Video: Sébastien Mehal on the opening of his exhibit

What: Opening reception of Sébastien Mehal's exhibit "Paintings"

Where: in the gallery Cube Blanc, 3 rue Francaise, 75001 Paris
When: July 18 - 21, 2007


Why it is so HolyChic: The postminimalist universe of the artist Sebastien Mehal is based on a mixture of painting, stage set design and product design. The six paintings on exhibition recall Malevich's radical rejection of self-expression and Frank Stella's determination to greatly reduce the complexity of the signifier.

The paintings are just pure objects, reflecting their own "fatal strategy" as Jean Baudrillard would have said.

The only figurative elements in Sebastén Mehal’s minimalist paintings are the symbols of urban life (lightbulbs, power lines, half-caste faces…). They impose their presence only by their context (their place at the center of the painting) and by the ambiguity of their meaning: the lightbulb has to be a symbol of urban space, coldness, loneliness, separateness but could also mean the universal source of vital energy. “The lightbulb in my paintings represents the human body's machinery: the light,” Sebastien Mehal explains.

Ambiance: Linear, white, standard late 90's urban arty in the new  bland gallery situated in the central fashionista headquarters, Montorgueil.

Upside: By tending to be decorative, spiritual and meditative at the same time, this paintings illuminate the space by their almost invisible, mirroring and shadow-like presence.

Downside: One can wander if the art of 21st century has become a piece of stylish furniture. Everything is so calm and imperceptible that it comes close to being mediocre and impersonal.

Tags: minimalism, art, Paris, Mehal, Cube Blanc, Montorgueil, Malevich, design, fashion, gallery.

Category: Reflection


by Vesna Gerintes

July 2007