Nina Tomąs 04.3.2023 - 04.3.2023 Finishing Nina Tomąs starting at 4:00 pm
Finishing exhibition on Saturday 4 March at 4 pm
In presence of the artist Nina Tomąs.
EN
Hibernation[1]
Working mainly in the medium of painting, Nina Tomąs explores different states of consciousness, which she presents to us as accounts of a unique and ephemeral psychosensory experience. Beneath their Pop-like or even psychedelic appearance, her works question the fragile link between reality and imagination during the creative act, which has undoubtedly marked the history of art. [...]
Concerning the title of the exhibition, Hibernation, it would appear that the alteration of the perceptive field is rather a matter of numbing and slowing down the body's organic functions. Hibernation, which is different from sleep, refers to a phase of dormancy, more commonly associated with animals and plants than with humans. In this sense, the title of the exhibition suggests a double reading, referring both to the cycle of nature and the seasons, and to human psychic activity, as indicated by the numerous colourful depictions of brain sections. Originally, this scientific imaging technique sought to elucidate the mystery of the psyche, in other words, to make the invisible visible. By appropriating these images and embroidering them on fabric, Tomąs transforms them into a motif which, far from being merely decorative, encourages us to question this interiority. [...]
It is appropriate, however, to mitigate this naturalistic reading of her painting, or at least to put it into perspective, by noting the presence, within this carefully constructed pictorial environment, of small objects whose instantly identifiable appearance shifts the fantasy towards a drug-induced trip. [...] If the image is a drug, to paraphrase the poet Louis Aragon, we can safely assume that the hand paints what the eye alone cannot see.
Septembre Tiberghien
[1] Excerpts from the essay ‘La main peint ce que l'il ne voit pas', written for the exhibition Hibernation at Maison d'Art Actuel des Chartreux in Brussels (18 November to 17 December 2022).
