Mireille Blanc's Painterly Investigations of Image and Disappearance

Mireille Blanc, who emerged at the Salon de Montrouge in 2011, explores the appearance and disappearance of images through painting. Her work draws on reworked photographs and popular art objects, often depicting fragments of bodies, carnival masks, trophies, and kitsch items that verge on the monstrous. Blanc's process involves collecting family album photos, postcards from flea markets, and her own snapshots, which she rephotographs, prints, and alters before painting quickly in a single session. Her small-format canvases are characterized by a thick yet light brushstroke. Recent developments include paintings shown without stretchers, collages combining reworked photographs with drawings on tracing paper, and charcoal drawings on calque that mimic photographic texture. Blanc's studio contains a portrait of Marcel Proust, a Mantegna Christ, a Leonard Cohen vinyl, and a tapestry of Saint Fabiola, the latter potentially destined for Francis Alÿs's collection. Born in 1985 in Saint-Avold, France, she lives and works in Paris. Recent solo shows include Galerie Eric Mircher (2012) and BabelKunst in Trondheim. Group exhibitions include "On ne voit pas le temps passer" at Église St-Maur-de-Courmelois, "Man-Made" at Galerie Dominique Fiat, and "Postcards from the Edge" at Chaim & Read Gallery, New York. Upcoming: solo show at Galerie Eric Mircher in 2013.