APPOLO
“It’s my own Holy Shroud, my own lie!” says Jean-Luc Verna of his series of transfers on fabric. By making a drawing that he photocopies and transfers with make-up onto a cloth that he then attaches to the wall with large folds, the visual artist asserts the highly spiritual nature of his work. The veil echoes that of Saint Veronica, which bears the miraculous imprint of Christ’s face, but Jean-Luc Verna’s work, which he defines as a “kind of strong irreverence to all these religious things,” evades biblical symbolism. There is no religious iconography here: it is to Greco-Roman mythology that the artist refers. Drawn in grisaille on a human scale like a figure drawing, the male nude represents Apollo, as the title suggests. While he usually inspires poets, here the sun god turns his back on us, ready to leave the scene. The draping of the veil, evocative of a theatre curtain, and the make-up used for the colour reinforce the sense of the artifice of representation.
Text written by Franny Tachon as part of the partnership between the École du Louvre and Lafayette Anticipations – Fonds de dotation Famille Moulin.
Exhibitions
La Galerie des Galeries, Paris (France)
from 01 Oct to 29 Oct 2005
Espace d’arts plastiques de Vénissieux, Vénissieux (France)
from 28 May to 13 Jul 2005