Flowers. Organisms of great intensity, mostly hermaphrodites, which represent three quarters of our plant biodiversity. They produce oxygen and are cultivated by man for their aesthetics, fragrance, medicinal properties and ability to produce vegetables and fruits. However, scientific research only focuses on a fifth of them.
Omnipresent but subtle in the history of art, loaded with strong symbolism, they are most often analyzed as decorative elements of the environment. In contemporary art, the flower is no longer used to underline certain themes but becomes the subject. The artist chooses the flower for what it is.
The duo TerminUs, formed in 2023, presents its very first exhibition at the Hôtel Alfred Sommier. Entitled La Fabrique du Vivant, this monographic exhibition presents the works of the young French artist Samuel Lalier. It brings together around ten works by the artist which aim to convey his vision of the flower, beyond symbolism and pre-established conventions, through oil painting.
Samuel Lallier considers himself an inventor whose task is to inventory all the flowers he encounters in his botanical books. His artistic career is part of a broader process of collecting existing flowers in order to capture all their essences and characteristics.
Like a scientist, the artist then intervenes in the morphogenesis of these plants to create unique specimens. His penchant for botanical matter, through research and observation, broadens his field of creation. In opposition to past Western representations of tamed flora and existing anxiety-provoking globalization, Samuel Lalier focuses on a beauty that emanates from chaos, from a nature that has claimed its rights and thus makes us enter its dystopian garden.
By hosting Samuel Lalier's exhibition, the Hôtel Alfred Sommier allows the blossoming of lush flora, of a fantasized greenhouse which, through oil painting, leaves room for the unexpected and the expression of matter.
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