Curator / Chang Kai-Chun
The exhibition "Whisper of the Shores" is a dual reflection of the art of two French artists, Claire Borde and Valérie Novello. They explore the unknown in their respective life journeys through landscapes, as well as the projection of their own existence (Être) in these sceneries. This exhibition has allowed the sensitive and introverted artistic vocabularies of the two artists to intersect, creating new landscapes.
Claire Borde's artworks capture the indescribable essence of creeks, morning fog, water surfaces, and winds, which she carefully stores in her body and soul. She then summons and contemplates the relationship between these landscapes on her canvas, like a choreographer. Claire uses her delicate bodily senses to find form and color for these internal landscapes. The fragility, thinness, fragmentations, tremors, and brushstrokes of these lines and color surfaces do not so much create art as they absorb the trajectory of life through painting and materials. This creative state between drawing and painting evokes the works of artist Cy Twombly. However, Claire Borde's works are less frenzied and less dynamic than Twombly's; she slowly guides her lines with her willpower and lets the paint flow along her brush. Her works are a wandering between current thoughts and childhood memories, as well as a series of beautiful sighs.
Valérie Novello, on the other hand, understands the passing of reality in a different way. In her series of works titled "Paysage," wax is the carrier of memory. This semi-transparent material preserves the scenery and reflects the distance between reality and memory. The mountain-shaped clusters are like the artist's thoughts lingering in her mind, melancholic and damp, gradually becoming clearer but difficult to touch, echoing the aesthetic of Eastern ink painting between reality and illusion. Her new work in 2019, "Carte," extends the concept of the "Paysage" series to a more metaphysical dimension. Organic context and folds disappear and reappear in semi-transparent wax. This map-like artwork is similar to the artist's overview of her body.
The series of works "Filets" outlines simplified shapes between architecture and organic matter in a sketch-like manner. Dyed washi fibers are collected into line segments and interwoven into primitive and solid structures like houses, rocks, or vines that may arise from fragmentation and construction.
In early spring of 2020, two delicate souls exchanged their whispers and gazes in the space of Irir. Through their creations, they gave shape to memories, added weight to time, and turned life into poetry between their eyes and hearts.