Acrobatic Painting

Solo show, E-Werk, Freiburg im Breisgau, DE, 2020

Exploring shapes and forms through observation of acrobats, gymnasts, and athletes, done in a series of paintings and drawings. The exploration is inspired by music listened to during lockdown. Several album covers that also depict human figures in absurd positions were used as models. During the opening night, a text oscillating between automatic writing and whimsical interpretation is performed by Selma Kahoul. Artefacts found and kept in the Kabuff (“storage room” in German) were collected over the months.

Painting under the archway,
Doing L-sit on rings,
Being astonished by the Caesar that’s spelled without an “s” because it is a proper noun, whilst Oscars has one,
Following the stakes of a ceremony without watching it live,
Watching a documentary about North Korea where dance is authorised by the government,
Notice the West hegemony on the rest of the world,
Wondering what Dubai looks like, whilst never wanting to set foot there,
Observing his feet and even feeling lucky to have two of them,
Blinking to who can paint a backbone without misspelling the orthography in what designates a long succession of bones,
Bouncing head up and down to some house music without acknowledging it,
Drawing sketches and lines all over the place,
Drinking beer in a Christian bar,
Hearing indistinct noise in a street not so far away,
Looking a baby in the eyes without understanding what is going on in their head,
Watching them knowing they’re standing without being able to walk yet,
Hearing ventilation and alarms wherever the place,
Being completely blank when grating someone in the street,
Being completely blank,
Getting flooded by the rain as much from the weather as by the family messages,
Getting worked up in the head,
Whilst wondering around without purpose but with headphones,
Shaking with fear about Europe without being European on the paper,
Doing vertical activities whilst thinking about it in a horizontal position,
Dreaming of a labyrinth,
People from the past and the future,
Characters or only figures,
Without being able to write figure in plural,
Shivering and having a squeaky belly,
Watching another baby in the eyes without understanding their happy reaction,
Throwing a boomerang in an abandoned parking,
Like a native without ancestral homeland,
Being a bit trapped on a platform station,
Pressing on top of pens whilst the ink will dry anyway.

Acrobatic Painting, exhibition views

Being unemployed but not hanging about,
Doing pink jumps in thin air,
Wearing a moustache in April but not in November,
Doing calls with instructions on highway air,
Sleeping underneath a giant electric snowball,
Running into a dragonfly first ran over by a tyre and then by the sun,
Wearing a mask,
Crossing swords even when it is not worth it,
Reading “no title” and having a great idea of title,
Playing devil’s lawyer,
Planning, then doing, then judging, then doing some more, then correcting, then documenting even before exhibiting,
Sending applications without dropping them,
Being caught by some events that overtake,
Smoking a joint in front of the criminal law faculty with the view on the street Im Grün,
Touching polyester, cotton, jute, linen, and the jackpot,
Stretching from up to bottom whilst having some wonky rest,
Walking people around,
Coughing strongly in front of some scandalised people still,
Not setting any alarms,
Being afraid of downloading music as much as seeing your own door be smashed to pieces by a water hammer,
Seeing symbols that do not exist,
Wondering what would look like a career as a secular theologian applying for a high role as an ecclesiastic with responsibility in Lyon,
Falling asleep in front of interesting documentaries and spoiling a bit of intrigue for when awake,
Taking pills,
Trying ricochet,
Bouncing,
Being aware of other means of communication,
Seeing some ideas being whisked away,
Finding white noise cool,
Writing with whatever,
Smoking in bathrooms,
Listening to hours of mixes at more than 130 BPM and thinking it is enjoyable,
Thinking about collective theatre performances with the set made by only one person,
Having tummy ache, headaches, back pain, fingers pain, and heartache,
Disposing of lots of files on many USB keys that computers recognise but can’t read,
Squeezing fruits in a big container and feeling healthy even after having smoked thirty cigarettes in less than twenty hours,
Eating loads of things that do not smell like meat but have the same texture,
Planning on starting language classes without knowing when,
Doing poum poum, po poum whilst the headphones are doing poum tchak poum tchak, pou pou poum tchak,
Using the electricity of the train to not use the fuel of a plane whilst living in the country producing the largest amount of waste each year in Europe,
Crying for Beirut and the supply of Lebanon, for few citizens of Syria, and for Iraq even further,
Chill,
Wanting to work with small metal objects without really wanting to use them,
Staring at people in the street without any ideas behind their heads but being prepared to answer negatively quite frankly,
Having wireless headphones but still with Bluetooth,
Stretching,
Saying I am just kidding,
Being appalled by the summer news in Switzerland,
Making rhymes,
Writing multiple texts at the same time, on many different devices,
Writing multiple texts in no time,
Always working but never reaching fortune,
Always working and never stopping.

Performance: Selma Kahoul

Soundtrack playlist:
Yarraville Bird Phone, Clark, 2019
My Name is Nobody, Ennio Morricone, 1973