23 January 2016 -
11 June 2016

Toute ma Liberté

Catherine Starkman

Toute ma Liberté

Catherine Starkman is an artist who embodies life. Her sensitivity, her humour and her freedom all contribute to the strength of her multifaceted body of work, which speaks as much of the obvious as the unspoken aspects of her time. She is fully dedicated to a contemporary reflection on humanity; our relationship to the city, our identity, our thoughts and our dreams.
Her series of photos taken between 1975 and 1985 could be called “Urban Anthropology”. In this collection we find men and women, side by side with their lookalikes - for some humans, for others animals. It is less the pursuit of narcissistic pleasure than it is the need for company, for solace, and for approval that leads these subjects to fall for an indolent travelling companion.
In contrast, the works on paper speak to us more of the personality and interests of the artist than that of her subjects. We can surmise that the ink that deptics these black women in sensual poses, the sketches that reveal frozen couples, and the images of faces that stare out at the viewer, are revelations about moments of Starkman’s life that the artist invites us to witness.
Starkman’s abstract pieces present a real turning point in her work. Playing with extremes of colour and enlarged formats, the artist creates a new form of beauty and carries us with her in her pursuit of pure freedom of expression. Deceptively simple, her landscapes of the subconscious draw their strength from a unique understanding of human nature. These pieces, rich in colour, are also rich in emotional matter that defies boundaries and comes to life before our eyes on the canvas.

A contrario, les œuvres sur papier, que l’on croirait sorties de l’atelier d’un peintre noir américain, nous parlent plus de l’intimité de l’artiste que de celle de ses sujets. On devine que l’encre qui dessine ces femmes blacks en position lascive, tout autant que celles dévoils instants de vie pour lesquels Catherine Starkman nous prend à témoins.

L’abstraction offre un véritable tournant dans l’oeuvre de Catherine Starkman. Jouant sur la frontalité de la couleur et des grands formats, l’artiste crée une nouvelle forme de beauté et nous entraîne dans son élan, à la conquête du libre arbitre. D’une simplicité trompeuse, ses paysages du subconscient puisent leur force dans une compréhension toute particulière de la nature humaine. Les aplats denses en couleur sont autant d’émotions qui, défiant les frontières, prennent vie sur la toile.