Maud Dabs

In her characteristic black and white works, Maud Dabs questions the relationships between the body, the mind and the notion of self, in order to define a way of representing them as a sensitive entity, beyond the image.

Rejecting the unmotivated representations of bodies widespread in the public space, Maud Dabs's beyond-bodies (an expression borrowed from Pierre Soulages's beyond-blacks) are located beyond the body: they are the drawing of the mind through the body image, in order to reach a visual level where the self is represented.

Combining techniques and textures, the artist's monochrome universe offers often strange framing and silhouettes that deprive the public of their figurative landmarks. Maud Dabs thus wants to draw the public into an unreal universe, beyond the image, in order to encourage them to take the time to read the work and to invite them to read it themselves.

The artist's works are intended as a counterpoint to the vacuity of most contemporary images. Thus, his drawings are constructed as a visual essay on the human psyche and its relationship with the body.

Born in 1996, Maud Dabs graduated in modern literature (La Sorbonne) and visual arts (Ecole des Arts de la Sorbonne). His plastic work and his problematics took shape thanks to the study of the living model, philosophy and literature.

"Interested in the expressions and nuances of the 'self', I seek to summon them in black and white body fragments that read like beyond-bodies: I want to go beyond the physical to talk about the psychic. »