Captivating exhibition ‘No man is an island’ at the Exotic Gardens

The exhibition “No man is an island” celebrates the artistic works of students from the Graduate School of Visual Arts. Enchantment guaranteed until 24 September.

The remarkable pieces created by graduate students from the Graduate School of Visual Arts marks the first collaboration between the school and the Exotic Gardens. This institution, which can be entered by graduating the lycée or with a bachelor’s degree, is recognized in France thanks to a bilateral agreement. The idea of ​​an exhibition was also born from a meeting between the students and the Parisian collective for the promotion of artistic creation through the exhibitions: “Mathilde Expose”. The cross-border meeting also demonstrates how universal a degree from the Bosio Pavilion really is.

To question the immensity of the world, through video, painting and disguises. This was the challenge initiated and brilliantly carried out by graduate students from Monaco’s Graduate School of Visual Arts in the exhibition “No man is an island”, which runs until 24 September at the exhibition hall of the exotic gardens. A date that is all but coincidental: it will mark a transition between the exhibition and the 22nd European Heritage Day, on Sunday 24 September. The works on display were inspired by a jury of experts chaired by Stéphanie Jamet, doctor in History of Contemporary Art and professor at the Graduate School of Fine Arts, Besançon.

The projection of her video is visible in a dark room located in the bottom end of the space. A five-minute countdown is displayed on the screen at the end of the projection, as if to encourage the visitor to turn to the other video and gouache painting on paper from the piece ‘Clubbism’ in the middle of the XXIII  century, by Jérémy Griffaud. Axelle Terrier, David Legrand’s former intern, an artist and teacher at Ensa de Bourges explained that video is the means of expression that allows me to convey all the sensations felt in contact with human beings, and the unknown.

Who better to talk about the exhibition than two of the artists involved?  Axelle Terrier and Eddy Achard, both graduates of the Bosio Pavilion, acted as guides for journalists in a room that was tailored for the needs of the exhibition. The first is a fan Patti Smith’s first album, entitled Horses and the cinematographic work of Jean-Charles Hue, Mange tes morts (‘Eat Your Bones’). A multicultural influence perceptible in the work. The artist unexpectedly invites viewers into the Moto club of Monaco, the Cagnes-sur-Mer Hippodrome and a tobacco store. So far, nothing confusing. Not to mention the filmed motorcycle rides over Monaco.

The work from her acolyte for the day, Eddy Achard, leans more towards scenography, with the creation of a spectacle entitled La Battue (The Beaten).

The other scene takes place on a vacant lot at the end of a hunt. The spectators, seated in chairs in the middle of the vacant lot, watch a vehicle in the distance. “Inside are two participants from the hunt. They stop to show off their prize. A chimera with five legs, a recognizable animal, visibly dead. But the beast wakes up…” explains the graduate artist from Lyon Fine Arts, in detail. Eddy Achard completes his piece with a canvas made of plastic, the beast lays below it. “I wanted to show the limits of this practice by using the painting The Hunt in the Forest by Italian artist Paolo Uccello. I especially appreciate his work,” he admits.