Philippe Ramette's Escapist Visions at CRAC Sète

Philippe Ramette's exhibition 'Plans d'évasion' at the Centre régional d'art contemporain (CRAC) in Sète, running until October 3, 2011, presents recent works exploring disappearance and invisibility. The artist, known for photographs that evoke Caspar David Friedrich and Jules Verne, now shifts from defying gravity to evading identity. Key works include 'Le Voyeur' (2011), a self-portrait hidden behind a curtain with only shoes and an eye visible; 'Portrait tragi-comique' (2011), a tripartite sculpture merging two profiles; and 'La Traversée du miroir', a perforated mirror referencing Lewis Carroll. The exhibition also features 'Le Funambule', a serpentine cord sculpture evoking Borges's 'The Garden of Forking Paths', and a large anti-depressant pill. Ramette's earlier work 'L'Ombre (de moi-même)' (2007) foreshadows this turn, depicting his suit crumpled on the floor with only his shadow remaining. The artist now adopts a new look—bald, with gold chain, glasses, and pink polo—to shed his recognizable dandy persona. The show includes references to magic, from levitating bodies to Houdini-like escapes, and explores nonlinear time and parallel universes.