Ida Tursic & Wilfried Mille's '6,5' at Musée de Sérignan

The exhibition '6,5' by artist duo Ida Tursic and Wilfried Mille at Musée de Sérignan in France, running from October 19, 2008 to January 4, 2009, presents a diverse survey of contemporary painting. The show features works mostly from 2008, ranging from optical abstraction to 3D figuration, disaster landscapes, starlet portraits, and monochromes. Central to the exhibition is the exploration of painting's own making: the back of a Hollywood sign (The Back of the Sign) sets the tone, revealing the conditions of production. Studio traces permeate the works; for instance, in Interview May 1998, paint stains that fell on magazine pages used as models are faithfully reproduced on canvas. A series of six large-format prints on canvas enlarges the artists' waste papers from airbrush cleaning, celebrating accidental drips and random patterns. The Random series offers thirty-three variations of a woman's portrait through chance combinations of color plates. The exhibition's highlight is a group of 3D paintings and prints that create optical effects, with red-and-green glasses provided for viewers—a nod to Daniel Buren's colored windows in the museum. Despite its ambition, the show avoids didacticism, instead exuding a joyful energy that revels in painting's unexpected possibilities.