The Galerie Eva Vautier is delighted to present, for the first time, a solo exhibition by the artist Maxime Parodi.
The Galerie Eva Vautier is delighted to present, for the first time, a solo exhibition by the artist Maxime Parodi. After taking part in several group exhibitions in Nice, notably at the Villa Cameline and at the 109, Maxime Parodi now takes over the gallery with a series of new works exploring the theme of the house. A graduate of the École supérieure d'art d'Aix-en-Provence in 2012, Maxime Parodi describes himself as a "fictionaut": an explorer of fictional worlds. Through drawing and writing, he inserts himself into film scenes he is attached to, thus creating universes that echo comic strips. This approach reflects his wish to go beyond the role of mere spectator, to appropriate collective universes and to question the boundary between person and character. Curated by Jeanpierre Paringaux, who has followed the artist’s work for several years, this exhibition presents a series of drawings in varied formats, all centred on the theme of the house. These new works invite the viewer to reflect on dwelling, intimacy and the notion of home, while retaining the narrative approach characteristic of the artist. © Maxime Parodi LES VENGEANCES DE LA NUIT by Jeanpierre Paringaux, curator of the exhibition, February 2025 Maxime Parodi draws moments of life, film stills, masterpieces of classical painting, screenshots, moments that at first sight are very banal, lodged in his memory. He slips into them discreetly to live them from the inside without disturbing anything; moreover, the characters present, often very numerous, pay him no attention. They themselves silent, absent, posing — are they alive? Or simply memories? Some, entirely naked, stare fixedly at us; their nudity is in no way provocative, it amplifies the transparent, neutral, invisible aspect. Ghosts! Witnesses to the lives they go through, and which Maxime Parodi invites us to share. The reference to Manet’s Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe (1) seems obvious: a naked woman beside two men in conversation. In Titian’s Le Concert champêtre (2), which inspired it, nudity evoked the allegory of poetry. As with Manet, there is no link to the muses: nudity privileges one figure, the target of all gazes. Sometimes the artist himself, having become his own model, a mise en abyme lending credence to the idea that drawing creates the artist in his own gaze. For his first solo exhibition at the Galerie Eva Vautier, Maxime Parodi invites us to look, to confront the troubling reality of our society through his eyes. Drawing as a witness to its time, without overlooking the divisions inherent in the ambiguities and contradictions of the surrounding discourse. (1) Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe by Edouard Manet (1863, Musée d’Orsay)(2) Le Concert champêtre by Titian (1500, Louvre) In the first space, a succession of colourful, calm, peaceful landscapes — colour serving the gentleness of a shared moment — traces a path that guides us towards the more uncertain night. An entertaining evening on the crowded steps of the…
