EXOTICA of Modern Times
Paris, France | 2024

Website, booklet and artwork brochure available here

The EXOTICA exhibition takes you on a temporal journey through luminous and erotic worlds.
Rooted in modernity and nourished by echoes of the past, each work is an homage to light, a praise of shadow.
The light installations, inspired by cult films of the 70s and 90s, reflect free bodies and minds that continue to fascinate today.
Whether you are an actor or a spectator, let yourself be transported into this sensual and immersive adventure.

I. INTRODUCTION

Welcome to a universe where neon light intertwines with mystery, eroticism, and transgression.
EXOTICA is an invitation to dive into a sensory adventure where bodies sway, minds misbehave, and time seems suspended.
This exhibition revisits the aesthetic of a past where exoticism crystallized in the visual imagination, and where women reigned as absolute mistresses.
From luminous silhouettes to ferrotypes, this installation, inspired by cinema and cabarets, captures timeless moments in a revisited Paris.
However, it is not an ancient dream: we are indeed in 2024.
Will you dare to venture into this retro-futuristic journey?

II. DIARY ENTRY | Tuesday, March 6, 1951

These nights spent searching for inspiration,
I have embraced all of Paris’ cabarets. They are extraordinary adventures I have participated in, and I must confess, I am overwhelmed.

We are living in a truly unique time,
where the new youth is marked by a bold sexual freedom, tinged with eroticism and transgression, mixing strippers, dancers, artists, and explorers in the turmoil of Pigalle’s bright lights. The spectacle is mesmerizing.

Today, the nights ignite behind velvet curtains, where voluptuous and cheeky silhouettes delight in flirting with the carefree spirit of tomorrow.
I gazed at a Lady Jane with dark eyes, heroine of confidences among the whispers of a deep night. Meanwhile, the luminous Simone was undressing Juliette, trembling and offered, while the meow-meows of a ragdoll preceded the stripping of a bad boy.

The neon light traces the contours of my burning memories, revealing the shimmering world of revues, feathers, and glitter.
A creative energy consumes me, and ever since, I spend my time putting on paper the shapes and fluids of all these characters I’ve encountered.
Bodies are playful in this electric paradise,
the muses are numerous, the adventures fleeting.

III. HISTORY AND ART OF NEON

Light and Revolution
The history of neon began in 1912, with Georges Claude’s invention, which transformed the urban landscape with his luminous gas tube.

Having become an icon of modern cities, neon has fascinated artists, filmmakers, and writers. From Paris to New York to Las Vegas, these luminous signs are much more than advertising tools; they become works of art that symbolize modernity.

From the Golden Age to Contemporary Art
From the 1930s to the 1950s, neon reigned in the streets of major cities, illustrating a bright future.

In the 1960s, artists like Dan Flavin and Bruce Nauman transformed neon into an artistic medium, exploring its aesthetic possibilities.

The exhibition highlights the evolution of neon, from its utilitarian beginnings to its adoption in contemporary art. EXOTICA questions how this bright light interacts with matter and bodies.

IV. INTERLOPE PARIS (1930-1960)

Pigalle and Its Thousand Neons
The interlope era of Paris is a bubbling framework of parallel lives. Gigolos, painted creatures, artists, and outcasts mingle in the dark alleys illuminated by garish neon lights.

From Saint-Germain-des-Prés to Bastille, every place teems with artists and personalities seeking to capture the essence of these sensual and dangerous nights.

From shady cabarets to Pigalle’s bars, this period of transgression and creative freedom marks a turning point in the perception of eroticism and marginality.

Excerpt from the book The Immoral Nights of Paris (1930-1960) by Marc Lemonnier:
“Interlope Paris is born on the still-warm ashes of the Roaring Twenties […] Strippers, artists, and writers in search of inspiration cross paths with criminals and night owls, forming a ballet of emotions and forbidden pleasures.”

V. BURLESQUE AND CABARET IN PARIS (1950 TO TODAY)

Left Bank, Right Bank
Paris in the 1950s regains its nocturnal glow after the war with intimate cabarets where talents like Brel, Brassens, and Gréco emerge, particularly on the Left Bank, in song-filled cellars that become the cradle of a new artistic scene blending music and poetry. Places like Milord L’Arsouille and L’Écluse embody this transition era, between carefree spirit and identity quest.

The EXOTICA exhibition celebrates this legacy with its neons bearing iconic song titles such as “Let’s Get it On,” “Lady Jane,” or “Déshabillez-moi,” capturing the burlesque spirit and the musical revolution of the 1950s, marked by the emergence of rock ‘n’ roll. Aesthetic and cultural codes are upended, the music is sensual and free, symbolizing raw energy.

VI. LIGHT AND PHOTOGRAPHY

An Artistic Parallel
Neon and photography are intimately connected by light. The invention of neon lighting, like photography, began as a scientific experiment before becoming an artistic medium in its own right.
Both art forms capture and transform light to reveal new realities.
The collodion photographs displayed here testify to an ancient art in which each shot becomes a unique work.

EXOTICA plays with this dialogue between light and image, neon and anachronistic photographs.

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