Apologie du plagiat : Claire Morel | SOLO SHOW

The Gallery Martine Aboucaya is pleased to present Claire Morel's third solo exhibition, Apologie du Plagiat (Apology for Plagiarism).

Claire Morel has for a long time used books as her playground. First and foremost she collects it, reads it, arranges it, compares it to others, seizes it, manipulates it, turns it around, twists the printed characters and its original function. She stretches its shape, unfolds and refolds it, opens the object to another dimension, to an "in-between". The book is a space, a structure, a surface that writing occupies, transforms and animates by its presence and absence. The book is a companion, secret and present, the book shares itself, it speaks, smiles and remains silent, thinks and dreams.

A library is an unfinished set of our passions, research and obsessions. In a way, it's a game of "portrait chinois" to describe its holder. With errors, remorse, and images. Barthes said, "the library is the space of substitute desires". This is of course a long list of names, famous or not, writers and publishers, titles that make sense, some unforgettable, others strangely almost identical. It is an extremely intimate place with very familiar objects that know us perfectly...

For this exhibition, Claire Morel focused on the covers of her own books. This first external page, the one that is never numbered, the one with which we get acquainted with the work, the one by which we discover and recognize it. Its image.

By drawing, spending time, the act of copying, and observation, she works to render with exactness the appearance of these collections.