Tereza Lochmann

Since the dawn of time, the image of the dog has been draped in meaning. The exhibition is titled Canicula, meaning "little bitch" in Latin, name given by ancient astronomers, to a star in the constellation "Big Dog". The rising of the Big Dog and its brightest star, Canicula, coincided with the onset of the hottest season and the heatwave. Bearer of a message, in many myths and beliefs, our most faithful companion was considered a psychopomp: a ferryman who leads the souls of the dead into the next world. Such Anubis, god with the head of a canine, who became patron of embalmers by creating mummification, or Cerberus, guardian of the underworld preventing the dead from fleeing from Hades.

This stray dog, inert, Tereza traces its outlines to include it in a series of experimental engravings. A two-step creative process, she creates a matrix and prints it on different media: paper, lace, wallpaper. Then the artist engages in a spontaneous work of composition. The corpse becomes a leitmotif punctuating a formal research. Illusions of dynamism are obtained thanks to the superposition of the matrix at different ink intensities. This dog motif is available in a homogeneous series where each of the compositions has its own plastic grammar and its own references. Between absurd sketches, worthy of a surrealist game and pure dynamic deployment to move this exquisite corpse with its support: a beauty emanates from the carrion.

ARTISTS: Olivier Cans, Gwenaël Zéphoris, Marion Ancelme, Daphné Bitchatch, Philippe Paumier, Teryl Euvremer, Eléonore Rihouet