Soizic Stokvis Merges Mural and Photo at Camille Lambert

At Espace d'art contemporain Camille Lambert in Juvisy-sur-Orge, France, artist Soizic Stokvis presents a dual exhibition of mural painting and photography from January 10 to February 13, 2009. The space, opened in 1987, has historically favored diverse expressions and educational projects with the adjacent art school. Director François Pourtaud invited Stokvis, known for her pictorial work at venues like Art dans les chapelles (2007-2008), Pavillon à Pantin (2006), and Crac à Monbelliard (2007). Her mural, with large turquoise bands forming a rhizomatic network, destabilizes visual perception, projecting an inverted image onto the glossy linoleum floor. An adjacent orange monochrome screen counters the orthogonal space. The orange-blue duo recurs in a counter-composition. Stokvis also shows a series of faux photographic diptychs, pinned and partially superimposed, depicting industrial docks and wastelands of northern France. These photos offer a contemporary counterpoint, redistributing the plastic and color codes of her painted walls and ceilings. The mural reflects in the photos without substitution, creating a back-and-forth of correspondences around urban territory organization. Her color investment of architectural space recalls Sophie Taeuber, Jean Arp, and Theo van Doesburg at the Aubette cabaret-restaurant in Strasbourg (1928).