Philippe Cognée
Carcasses
French painter Philippe Cognée invests the new space of Galerie Daniel Templon, Impasse Beaubourg, with a spectacular installation – Carcasses – a panoptic view of an industrial slaughterhouse. Realized in 2003, this ensemble of 36 small canvases was shown in several museums including MAMCO, Geneva in 2006. It is presented for the first time in Paris.
After painting supermarkets and recycling plants, Philippe Cognée now turned to industrial slaughterhouses. He paints animal carcasses as if they were architectures or buildings. Inspired by video, he presents them in a long travelling-shot where close-ups alternate with large overviews. Philippe Cognée wanted to explore the theme of the « flayed ox », immortalized by Rembrandt, Soutine or Bacon. In his case, the huge pieces of flesh are bathed in a bright intense light. The artist’s complex technique of wax paint melted with hot iron creates a « blur » effect, which seems to question the notion of memory and gaze.
The artist
Philippe Cognée was born in 1957 in Nantes, France, where he lives and works. His paintings use wax that is heated and crushed, producing a blurred effect and raising questions such as the thinning away of the image and the human condition in the light of humans’ relationship to their urban environment. The artist draws inspiration from photos and videos of elements such as motorways, buildings and aerial shots. His work questions the role of art in a society where new digital technologies have ushered in the era of the image, both omnipresent and diminished.
