Sans titre
Sans titre is a typical example of the strange yet endearing world that has become Petra Mrzyk and Jean-François Moriceau’s hallmark. An ink drawing on paper made jointly, it is composed of a line of characters whose attention seems to be focused to their right: a woman whose head and torso are hidden behind a huge spray of flowers, a cubic four-limbed creature topped by a head with a cat looking inside it, a family of dogs next to a man in a double-breasted suit who is checking his watch, a stage character in cowboy boots whose suitcase is powering the iron used on a dress. This series of strange images reveals a contemporary bestiary that draws on the imagination of childhood and the reflection of adulthood. The characters in Sans titre are not entirely detached from the obligations of the reality from which they seem to have escaped: a faceless woman with a dejected posture seems to be forced into having her dress ironed before being allowed to go on her way, while the two men wait impatiently. The family, traditional at first glance despite its cynocephaly, consists of two females, one of whom is hugging a baby, perhaps before offering it up to the curiosity of the cat. Finally, a second woman is rendered anonymous by the bouquet she is clutching or being smothering by. Petra Mrzyk and Jean-François Moriceau deliberately use black humour and an absence of colour to make the viewer concentrate on the unspoken aspects of Sans titre.
Text written by Manon Prévost-Van Dooren as part of the partnership between the École du Louvre and Lafayette Anticipations – Fonds de dotation Famille Moulin.
Exhibition
La Galerie des Galeries, Paris (France)
from 01 Oct to 29 Oct 2005