Matthieu Delfini is presenting his work for the first time in Marseille, at Terrasse en Ville.
In recent months, the artist has been working on a series that is a chromatic and corporeal ode to the Phocaean city, a stage for unique light. Centered on coastal scenes (the rocks of the Corniche, beaches, coves), it extends his exploration of body language by anchoring it in a vibrant, mineral setting.
Each painting captures the body in its simplest expression: sitting, reading, bathing, applying sunscreen, or contemplating. The environment becomes a place of equality where rock, sand, and water act as a democratic foundation, welcoming all types of bodies and attitudes. The work thus becomes a celebration of this bodily diversity and the micro-interactions that weave the social fabric of Marseille.
The idea here is to confront the spontaneity of attitudes with the power of the natural elements: rock and water. It is this encounter between the organic and the mineral that truly lies at the heart of this body of work; more specifically, it involves juxtaposing what constitutes the city—the elements of concrete and stone—with what makes it human: the warmth of bodies.
“Marseille” is thus an invitation to immerse oneself in the universal yet singular, and so very human, everyday life that forms the soul of this city.
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