4 Parts of Pink And Blue Hair, oil pastels on paper, 42x59,4cm, 2022.
‘World on Paper’ is the first exhibition dedicated entirely to the French artist Inès Longevial‘s works on paper. The artist whose work is best recognised for self-portraiture, experimentation with colours and compositions, is back for the third time at the Paris gallery, Ketabi Projects, where opens up on her “secret practice,” giving the viewers an insight into her daily practice.
Diarra 1, oil pastels on paper, 25,4x18,2cm, 2022.
SLEEK: Your current exhibition showcases your work on fine paper, your self-described “secret practice.” Can you tell us a bit more about your relationship with the material and practice?
Inès Longevial: I usually work on paper on a daily basis but I keep this work secret. It’s more of a research work on colours, compositions and themes, where I work very freely without any judgment. My paintings are a testimony of a more controlled and conscious work. What drives me the most is to give strength to textures and colours.
S: We’re familiar with your close relationship to colour. Now, at your third exhibition at Ketabi Projects, has your palette evolved?
IL: After Covid and all the restrictions that we endured, my work is even more guided by an instinctive will. I am very porous to what I see and what I live.
Red Burning Butterfly, oil pastels on paper, 2021.
S: You said that you work often on self-portraits as you’re most familiar with your face and it serves as a “neutral ground.” When using colours to express your feelings or surrounding, what do you want the viewer to experience?
IL: I refuse to answer to any expectations when I use colours. I try my best not to follow any trend. Some of the most important things for me are to be genuine, honest, authentic and strong by any means I have. My point is to give these bodies and faces the enlightenment they deserve out of any limit society might want to impose on them.
I am foremost guided by my instinct and desires. My thinking is built as my experiments progress and I am always surprised to see how things overlap and take place naturally in my mind.
S: The composition for ‘Puzzle Women’ is made up of smaller paper formats, should we view the artworks individually to “break up” the language, forcing us to view the language more directly or the reverse? Is it placed together to create the message?
IL: I could answer yes and no to these two interpretations because it is precisely this back and forth game that is interesting in this work. Also, my practice has strongly influenced my way of working. Patchwork has an important place in my research, the place of intimacy and of looking at the detail, and then at the whole, is something that I am constantly developing.
World on Paper is on until 30 April 2022 at Ketabi Projects.