About the artwork
These two paintings by Edi Dubien present a series of black-and-white portraits. All the faces are from the front, with a neutral expression in the manner of passport photos. The treatment of these faces is systematically the same, although the expressiveness of his brushstrokes makes it possible to differentiate them. However, the strict, solemn aspect of the composition is subverted by color drawings. Drawn with a single line in a resolutely naïve style, they sometimes depict animals, sometimes accessories that adorn the characters. If they evoke mocking, childlike doodles, these different versions of the same type of portrait seem to speak of questions and identity troubles, a major theme in the artist's work, adorning a character with different masks to the point of sometimes losing his or her face.
Expert opinion
This diptych by Edi Dubien showcases the artist's expressive style. Known for his portraits, he uses them to evoke his own autobiographical questions, in this case about identity.
About the artist
Born in 1963 in Issy Les Moulineaux, Edi Dubien is a French artist. Trained as a photographer and self-taught painter, his work has an autobiographical dimension that he fully embraces. He began his career with war photography, before turning to chainsaw portraits on wood. He pursued figuration in painting, training himself in raw, disembodied forms of expression. Today, he composes his portraits using the white of the sheet or canvas to create faded complexions, creating an analogy between his figures and the erasure of memories and identities. This work is further nourished by autobiographical elements, enabling her to both renew her technique and tackle the theme of gender, central to her work since its transition. His work has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions, including at the Centre d'Art Contemporain de Malakoff in 2017, at the Musée d'Art Contemporain de Lyon in 2020 and at the Centre Pompidou in Paris as part of the group show Over the Rainbow in 2023. He is represented by Galerie Alain Gutharc in Paris.
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