Bruno Perramant - New Spectres

From Saturday, April 5, to Sunday, April 20, 2008, the French Academy in Rome presents the works of Bruno Perramant, artist-in-residence at the Villa Medici, in the exhibition *Nouveaux Spectres*, a title inspired by Arthur Rimbaud’s lines: “Thus, from my window, I see new spectres…” What do we see—or no longer see? What is looking at us—or what has ceased to look at us? The artist’s gaze confronts the emptiness of the gaze of today’s ghosts, using painting to express his vision of contemporary image culture—despite the hegemony of the media, which have now become the primary producers of images of reality. Filmmakers and painters today observe the same world, the same era, the same light; based on a shared conception of the reproduction of reality (“the fragmentary perception of everyday life,” as Perramant puts it), the resulting images therefore seem to be perceived and constructed in the same way.

There is a direct and profound connection between painting and contemporary media, particularly in terms of their relationship to the image and reality. A fragmented reality, which now exists only as a series of “apparitions” and “shadows,” which Bruno Perramant reproduces in figures drawn from his personal mythology, art history, and literature. Thus, for the works in this exhibition, Arthur Rimbaud’s verses inspire “intuitions” and “narrated visions”: It is through the passage of time via painting that we discover here the remnants—each time anew. New spectres or the necessary exorcism of the images presented to us. (B. Perramant)

THE ARTIST

Bruno Perramant was born in Brest in 1962 and lives between Paris and Brittany. He exhibits regularly in France and abroad; in May 2008, he will participate in the group exhibition “Traces de sacré” organized by the Centre George Pompidou in Paris. In September, he will have a solo exhibition at Fabienne Leclerc’s In Situ Gallery in Paris. The titles of Bruno Perramant’s paintings, like the titles of his exhibitions, offer clues to understanding and approaching his work. “Re.noir” alluded to the filmmaker Jean Renoir, son of the painter of the same name, whose film *La règle du jeu* served as the inspiration for a series of ghostly paintings. Re.noir also affirmed the artist’s renewed interest in working with the color black, reflecting a continuing exploration of variations in the dark layers of the painting. Another play on words, *Dar(k)stellung*—which could be translated as “presentation of darkness”—was based on the text of the Book of Revelation. The four horsemen from this exhibition will be presented once again in Rome.