Signs of the Time: Dark Narratives at Carré Sainte-Anne

Curated by Richard Leydier, the group exhibition 'Signs of the Time' at Carré Sainte-Anne in Montpellier (18 January – 5 May 2013) brings together eight artists from the same generation who emerged in the 1990s. The show explores themes of violence, torture, and human suffering through painting and sculpture. Works include Stéphane Pencréac'h's faceless Minotaur bust in steel, bronze, and concrete, and a Prometheus figure holding a golden mirror. Bernhard Martin's apocalyptic drawings depict attacks and executions. John Isaacs presents a bound, hooded figure reminiscent of Guantanamo prisoners and a monument-like sculpture of human debris on a plaster base. Anne Wenzel's ceramic works respond with dripping forms, while two withered flower crowns lie at the nave's end. Michel Gouéry's grimacing army stands defiantly, and Ronald Ophuis paints scenes of war atrocities—torture, rape, massacres—that evade media coverage. Animals punctuate the space: Thomas Helbig's faux-charred pig, Isaacs's upside-down shark, and Léopold Rabus's birds devouring each other. The exhibition presents a dark, uncompromising collective vision of contemporary times.