Now at the Galerie Galatee "Paysages Suspendus" engraver Marine Lefebvre dreams of childhood and tree bark

It was a rainy evening about a month ago, when I first stumbled on the Galerie Galatée, a small art gallery in the rue Notre Dame de Nazareth specialized in modern engravings. The evening was festive and simple, lights in the gallery flooded out the streets with their yellow glow and the sweet jazzy notes of O Forte, a four piece group from Toulouse whose music compliments engraver Marine Lefebvre's sweet yet sober compositions.

The engravings are captivating: a superposition of different textures brought to life by the bite of acid on copperplate. The forms are suggestive of many different elements: tree bark or muscle tissue. They melt one into another. Gallery owner, Ghizlaine Jahidi says this "hybridation" attracted her to Marine Lefebvre's artworks immediately. She sees in these engravings an unconscious reference to the Swedish painter Munch, Lefebvre "gives a tragic dimension to beauty." This is especially apparent in the triptych "Palingenèse par les hauteurs" (Palingenesis/Rebirthing from Above). In one of the three engravings that form the triptych, a faceless black form peers around streaks of black and white. Looming over these elements is a pair of feet that seem to be walking out of the painting.


In the series "Marcigny" Lefebvre reflects on her childhood experiences in the little Burgundy village where
her grandparents lived. By mixing motifs from her memories with close-ups of organic materials she creates a space of utopic otherness, that Lefebvre calls "heterotopias" (the term heterotopia was created by Michel Foucault in reference to a space that is outside of the physical world but runs parallel to it such as the places where children hide to play in the backyard, or in their parents' bed). For me these engravings resemble a slice of the artist's imagination cut from her mind and displayed the way dynamited rock on mountain roads allow passersby to discover millions of years of geological history. A series of photographs on the artist's website help to understand the ecological influence on these engravings (photographie Espaces Vides).

Marine Lefebvre poses in front of the series "Marcigny"
at the Galerie Galatée

Lefebvre is currently training at the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs in Paris. She began her studies in set design, but recently discovered a preference for the autonomy and the sensation of engraving. Over the past year she has spent time in a  Ireland at a workshop where she could exchange with engravers from all over the world. Back in Paris she started printing in René Tazé's workshop. Tazé is one of the top printers in the city, and his long career makes him an excellent model for Lefebvre.

Marine Lefebvre's work seems to be made for a gallery like Galatee. Owner Ghizlaine Jahidi opened her doors a little over a year ago in a part of the city where the art scene is beginning to blossom. Jahidi has always been drawn to engravings, a medium that she finds brings the spectator into an intimate "proximity to the artist." Since opening she has been dealing with contemporary engravings: some major names such as Max Klinger and Eric Desmazières. Lefebvre's shadow crossed her threshold at a moment when she had been on the lookout for new talent.

The exhibit "Paysages Suspendus" (Suspended Landscapes) is scheduled at the Galerie Galatée through mid-May. These engravings have an enchanting melancholy that is lovely to observe (and the prices are quite reasonable).



Address:
31 rue Notre-Dame de Nazareth, Paris 9e
Hours:
Tuesday - Saturday : 1pm-7pm
Métro:
Temple ou République
Email

Link to Marine Lefebvre's website