The Tyranny of beauty — Jean-Charles de Castelbajac

Exhibition

Graphic design, painting

The Tyranny of beauty
Jean-Charles de Castelbajac

Past: September 11 → November 20, 2010

Following a first solo show in London, The Triumph of Sign, an installation on the Pont Neuf, Astronomy Domine, and in keeping with the same obsession, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac now brings us The Tyranny of Beauty at La B.A.N.K.

For the past 40 years, Castelbajac has been using detourn and appropriations to create bridges between practices and signs and to trigger questions.

The tyranny in question is that of an insatiable need to please, of youth’s domination, of a quest for immortality and of the denial of time past.

Castelbajac adds trait, logo, sign or brand obliteration to classic master paintings. As if creams, capsules or other artifices could open up a path to eternal youth and stamp their radiant faces with indelible copyrights.

The Chinese copyists’ oil paintings are based on ancestral techniques. They reduce to the state of manufacture a selection of Western Art’s masterpieces. By reproducing works from our heritage, the artist reclaims History and images of beauty at their height of refinement. His aim is to demonstrate that everyone can do beauty and good, like in the Snow White syndrome in a series of Flanders tapestries.

Misc venues for this event

The artist

  • Jean-Charles de Castelbajac