Monstres en réunion, 2015

Catherine Gran  

In Monstres en réunion, Catherine Gran expands the individual portrait into a collective scene. Several creatures gather around a precarious architecture of cardboard boxes, their bodies distributed across the panoramic canvas like participants in an improvised assembly. Each possesses a distinct anatomy, colour and posture, suggesting a community composed of singular beings rather than variations on a single model.

The boxes structure the composition, creating platforms, shelters and points of observation. Around them, the monsters lean, recline, emerge and balance. Gran constructs their bodies from inflated volumes, stitched surfaces, spirals and branching appendages, combining the tactile familiarity of soft toys with the anatomical freedom of fantasy. Their vivid colours stand out against the muted setting, while their gestures establish a subtle circulation of attention across the painting.

The title introduces a gently comic social dimension. This “meeting" has no evident purpose or hierarchy; it appears governed by curiosity, proximity and coexistence. Within Les Monstres tendres, the work proposes an image of community founded on the acceptance of physical difference. Gran's creatures retain their strangeness while acquiring recognisable temperaments and social behaviours. Their gathering becomes a humorous, affectionate reflection on how individuals occupy a shared space and learn to exist alongside one another.