Julie Lequin

LA FOIRE
05.08–06.14.2014
Room 2

Combining watercolours, objects, and videos in a flea-market style installation, Julie Lequin’s practice flirts with DIY craft aesthetics. She creates all her sets, accessories, and costumes with simple materials: felt, papier mâché, fabric, wool, etc. The artist invites the viewer into the colourful universe of her life.

With La foire, she leads a sort of personal investigation into the possible job opportunities that are available to her as a professional artist, within the context of a traditional work environment that is more or less in line with the skills she learned during her university studies. Through the use of autobiography, the artist shares part of her life with the public. In this exhibition, she is interested in the understanding and subjectivity that shape her relationship to others when she is looking for work, even within fields related to her artistic practice. This scenario is skilfully illustrated in her videos Job Interview 1 and 2. Through a narrative that oscillates between reality and fiction, Lequin humorously reveals the difficulties, preconceived ideas, and absurd situations she encountered during job interviews. The artist plays each role and borrows her friends voices to re-enact situations she exaggerates to underline their ridiculousness. The objects and sets used in these videos are installed in the gallery in such a way that viewers also become part of the work and may project themselves into this universe. Through this abundance of elements, the viewer is metaphorically invited to meander through the job-market circus, all while experiencing the environment of the artist’s studio.

Without succumbing to narcissism, Julie Lequin’s work serves as a catalyst to further understand the mechanisms that exist in these scenarios. Through the creation of dialogues culled from lived events, and objects that refer to her everyday life, Lequin speaks of the artist’s condition by putting herself on display without descending into pathos.

Manon Tourigny (translation Jo-Anne Balcaen)

Julie Lequin would like to thank the whole CLARK team.