Mariane Ibrahim presents Un Nouveau Monde, the gallery's second solo exhibition with Clotilde Jiménez and the artists first in Europe. On view in Paris from January 28 – March 5, 2022, the show marks the first chapter of the gallery's 10-year anniversary celebration.
The exhibition unveils Jimenez’s new body of work exploring the interplay between companionship, spirituality by guiding the viewer on a journey of self-reflection. The artist has cultivated a cathartic practice which allows him to disembark from the spectrum of Western art ideals as he builds a new visual vocabulary for his practice.
Combining collaged found materials, Jiménez deconstructs cut-outs of western paintings echoing Rauschenberg’s erased de Kooning drawing. However these deconstructions are often remade as background building blocks or entirely new objects such as boats that carry away his figures.
Accompanied by charcoal, central velvety forms create distinctive swirls, gestural abstraction, and layers. By remaining free, each gesture marks a bold and deliberate exchange. In parallel, ideas and political action are guided by beauty and moral conduct. This new language is rooted in simplified visual imagery of his life in Mexico, while creating his own iconography with an immediate palpable meaning.
Jiménez’s Un Nouveau Monde in Paris will also be the occasion to unveil a new medium for the artist. The set of ceramic plates, Deux Ancêtres (pink), created specifically for the commemoration of the anniversary depicts a performative piece of gathering. The two figures act as collective ancestors, creating a dinner party, an act of communion.
The heavy and emotional response deemed from the loss in the past years has been instrumental to the artist’s current work. This sense of loss guided the artist to a Ghanaian Fante proverb which asks, ‘Will You Fly, or Will You Vanish?’, a question many were urged to ask themselves during the pandemic, a rare moment of communal reflection.
Jiménez’s work is a confession and documentation but also a declaration as he chooses to fly. The reaction to events that challenge one’s sense of grounding, self-worth, solitude, and death may allow time for self-exploration, and finding the strength to move forward. Delving into the story of the Asafo flags of the Fante people calls attention to the invention of new traditions. The assemblage of work presents new icons and ways of thinking with black expressionist figures.
As visitors step into Un Nouveau Monde, they will be left with the thought that in a sort of migration and quest for advancement, even through dark times, we look back from where we were, and we ask where we will be in the next 10 years to come. The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams, and those dreams exist in a new world we create.