Desseins de corps
body designs
body designs by oceane sailly & Clement denis
The bond. What are the links that unite two lovers, two beings, beings? How can we capture the bond that is formed, deformed and reformed in a love relationship?
These questions run through Clément Denis' new series, "Desseins de corps", in which he seeks to capture the complexity of feelings of love at a given moment. It is an ambiguous representation of passion that takes shape; a mixture of flesh, a mixture of emotions... we find here the relationship that unites the three main characters in Stefan Zweig's Confusion of Feelings where love, friendship and admiration compose the picture of a passion.
This moment T is the moment of the present and, at the same time, an entanglement of past experiences and love affairs. The question of time, recurrent in the artist's work, reappears here in the form of an aesthetic of the multitude that is formalised by the technique of braiding. Clément Denis tears apart, destroys, two paintings to reconstitute a new temporal picture of love from these fragments of love.
About Océane Sailly
In 2021, Océane Sailly has founded Hunna / هُنَّ, a digital, nomadic art gallery representing women artists from the Arabian Peninsula. Engaged in a politics of production and the creation of critical contributions from scholars and art professionals, Hunna / هُنَّ aims to support artistic and intellectual circulations between the Gulf and the rest of the world.
Prior to this, she co-founded Hors-Cadre (France), a contemporary art gallery focusing on emerging French artists and worked three years as a Cultural Officer for “Emirati-French Cultural Program - Dialogue with Louvre Abu Dhabi” (PCFE). Bringing together renowned artists and institutions from both countries, the PCFE was a highly mediatic and successful program for which five big-scale projects were implemented, notably the opening of the Louvre Abu Dhabi by Groupe F, "Co-Lab" contemporary art exhibition and five representations of an equestrian spectacle by Bartabas in Al Jahili historical fort.
In parallel to her professional activities, Océane Sailly is currently finishing a PhD at Sorbonne University, Paris (2021) focusing on French cultural diplomacy’s history and practices in GCC countries. She has been awarded a three years full doctoral scholarship from the Sorbonne and a two years field scholarship by the French Research Centre of the Arabian Peninsula (CEFREPA). She has been living in Kuwait since 2018 and travelled extensively in all the Gulf. She holds a Bachelor in International relations and a Master degree in Management and Direction of cultural institutions.
Le lien. Quels sont les liens qui unissent deux amants, deux êtres, des êtres ? Comme saisir le lien qui se forme, se déforme et se reforme dans la relation amoureuse ?
Ces questions traversent la nouvelle série de Clément Denis, « Desseins de corps » dans laquelle il cherche à saisir la complexité des sentiments amoureux à un instant T. C’est une représentation ambiguë de la passion qui se dessine ; mélange de chair, mélange d’émotions… on retrouve ici la relation qui unit les trois personnages principaux dans la Confusion des sentiments de Stefan Zweig où l'amour, l'amitié, et l'admiration composent le tableau d'une passion.
Cet instant T est le moment du présent et, en même temps, un enchevêtrement des expériences et des relations amoureuses passées. La question du temps, récurrente dans le travail de l’artiste, ressurgit ici sous la forme d’une esthétique de la multitude qui est formalisée par la technique du tressage. Clément Denis déchire, détruit, deux peintures pour reconstituer à partir de ces fragments amoureux un nouveau tableau temporel de l’amour.
Océane Sailly