Sandrine Pelletier


Le Canapé d'Or, 2005 (fabrics, emroidery foam, wood, vintage telephone)
Last / Courtesy: Galerie Frank Elbaz, Pariz
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Ufo atak 1 & 2, 2005
Hellgates, 2007
Lucky hole, 2007

The installation by Sandrine Pelletier is actually a combination of four works (Canapé d'Or, Ufo atak 1 & 2, Hellgates and Lucky Hole), in which thread is used in the handicraft technique of embroidery. With its intentionally careless and passionately bursting forms reminding of the painting technique of "dropping", it represents a universe of horror, sex, fetishism, cruelty, monstrosity and gloominess. The interior – a hybrid of a horrific hotel room and a traditional folkloric space – pays tribute to horror films by Alfred Hitchcock and thrillers by Dario Argent (with their up-to-date ambiences containing elements of cruelty, awesome romanticism and
fairy tales about witches). The central work is a diptych entitled Hellgates, executed as a
curtain. It manifests the fear of children, frequently hunted in their fanciful imagination by evil characters hidden right behind their backs. The installation is thoughtfully illuminated, which
only enhances the horrible atmosphere in the space. As personified fears, the wall-mounted
eyes executed as small objects combined with lace remind of decorative napkins. In the artist's iconography they symbolise the anonymity of brothel pleasures. The ghastly ambience represents a link to the work entitled Canapé d'Or, which breathes the atmosphere of a French boudoir (as a form of brothel). A portrait of the artist is embroidered on the canapé seat, which speaks humorously about the indirect prostitution of artists, about the relationship between artists and gallery owners, or curators, in which artists push hard for the promised success, but often lose their face in the meantime. For the visitor, the actual play with anonymity (of the brothel) and lost face begins in the moment he/she sits down on the canapé – and calls the artist's agent. In fact, this work is an appallingly humorous and humorously appalling metaphor of the relationship between the inferior and the superior.

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Born in 1976 in Lausanne (Switzerland). She studied at the ECOLE D’ARTS APPLIQUES in Vevey (Switzerland) between 1994 and 1999 and continued her studies at the University of Art and Design (ECAL) in Lausanne between 1999 and 2002. She graduated in visual communications from ECAL and also completed her postgraduate studies in graphic design. She lives and works in Lausanne and Paris.

Solo exhibitions (selection):

2006 Défi Fantastique, Centre culturel français de Milan, Milan
Allô Allô, Madame Paris (with A.Ruiz) - Les nuits sonores, Lyon
Angoraphobia, Galerie Taché Lévy, Brussels
2005 Damoisie, Galerie Frank, Paris
Catwalk, Tsumori Chisato Store, Paris
Aoyama, Japan

Group exhibitions (selection):

2007 A.K.A, Fette's gallery, Los Angeles
Eau Sauvage part II, Fieldgate gallery, London
2004 Unpainted, Villa Grisebach, Berlin
2003 Signes des écoles d’arts, Centre national d’art moderne Georges Pompidou, Paris
Lee 3 Tau Ceti Central Armory Show, Villa Arson, Nice.

www.maskara.ch
www.tache-levy.com