Chloe Piene's Dialogue with Hans Bellmer at Galerie Nathalie Obadia

At Galerie Nathalie Obadia in Paris, from November 15, 2008 to January 17, 2009, an exhibition juxtaposed works by Hans Bellmer and Chloe Piene. Piene selected graphic pieces by Bellmer from the collection of Marcel and David Fleiss (galerie 1900-2000, Paris) and created a series of drawings shown alongside the surrealist master's. The dialogue explores the tension between desire and death, a theme present in Piene's earlier work. Piene had previously engaged with other artists' oeuvres, such as in the 2007 exhibition Bodies of Desire, which closely related to Willem De Kooning's work. Her drawings also evoke Egon Schiele's erotic works. She cites masters like Hans Baldung Grien, who depicted death as a woman. Piene has written two books based on correspondence with prisoners, identifying strongly with them. For her 2007 exhibition at Carré d'art de Nîmes, she wrote an interview with herself, reflecting her interest in doubling. In the gallery, Bellmer's drawings show fragmented bodies, while Piene's depict emaciated bodies with skeletal fragments. Barry Schwabsky references T.S. Eliot's line about "the skull beneath the skin." Piene's Fascia 01 presents a female body with a perspective similar to Bellmer's Femme Phallus, and her Two Ribs echoes the pelvis in Bellmer's La Cruche cassée. Piene states that when drawing, she forgets everything, becoming almost blind, which allows her to see Bellmer's drawings more clearly.