Hi everyone !

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© Antoine Scalese

My name is Clément CAUVET, I’m 31 years old and I have been working on my first painting exhibition for about year now.

What a business !!! I get the peaces but, from now, i have to package everything and i you can help me to deal with it :)

I need to edit a website, posters, invitations, portfolios, and more material (painting stuff, canvas, frames) to polish and finish the preparation of this exhibition.

I still have some big canvas to produce, i make wooden frame by myself for economic reason, but the canvas and painting stuff are expensive.

I also have a light sculpture to make who will be the opening peace of the exhib. It's focus on that question that i hope it caught you : "DO YOU LIKE THE UGLY?".

Portfolios are very important to talk and show the whole exhibition and send to the galleries wishing they'll be sensitiv to my work. It's also a present that i will offer to you with posters and invitations :)

First of all, I’d like to introduce you to the genesis of this project !

I was 17 when I had my first encounter with a Mark Rothko painting and that’s all it took to spark off my passion. I immediately wanted to own some of his work. It was obviously quite naïve considering the importance of the artist but that same audacity pushed me to try and achieve a piece in the same spirit. That’s how it all started ! Stubborn by nature I made a point of learning by myself.

I took 2 years of evening classes offered by the fine arts workshops of Paris city hall to learn basic principles of the painting crafts. Parallel to that, I dove deep into Art history so that I could make more informed choices about the creative paths I wanted to take.

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"3615 CONFINE IT", minitel burnt and nails

From an early approach focusing on aesthetics, research and maturity led me towards a more impertinent touch, turning imperfection into a distinctive feature. I have always been influenced by modernist painters and specifically surrealists from the beginning of the 20th century.

Born and raised in Paris I’ve always been in contact with a lot of art. Since I was 18, I worked for fashion brands holding retail management positions.

Over these years, I wasn’t feeling comfortable displaying my work yet and above all, unable to balance professional investment and the dedication painting requires both in terms of reflection and production.

So a year ago I quit my job in order to prepare for this first exhibition.

In a way, I got 10 years older in the process of designing the message and principles of engagement it could offer. Painting is not for oneself and should go beyond offering something pretty-looking.

My motivation is rather directed towards making a testimony of our time and our society which brings me closer to the expressionist movement.

With self-teaching comes creative freedom and I use a wide array of mediums depending on the subjects. I could go on and on but I should remain to the point :)

DO YO LIKE THE UGLY ?

That’s the name of the exhibition !

This question will be the first piece frontally calling out to the viewers.

Beyond the playful aspect, this antiphrasis aims at questioning the transformation of our society since the arrival of the Internet and the economic crisis of 2007.

These events have triggered a deep evolution of our ways of living, consuming and thinking. We are more and more committed to sustainability and ethics and are changing how we consider our planet, how we envisage politics and the impact of our own actions.

The pieces presented here echo the duality at work in our western societies between a feeling of melancholia or nostalgia and the actions required to fix the mistakes of the 20th century. This main topic also accomodates other secondary subjects such as the evolution of contemporary art and the relevance of its market.

You’ll also find autobiographic elements treated in a symbolized manner out of humility. This project gathers about 20 pieces, all very different from each another.

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"DANCING FOR THE ATOM", oil on canvas, 155*200cm

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"THE ORIGIN OF THE WORLD", canvas and sewing cotton, 120*120cm

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"WIND OF EAST", oil on canvas, 100*200cm

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"MARIANNE", plaster and molten plastic, 25*'48cm

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"ECHO", oil on canvas, 73*92cm

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"AN ASPIRIN, A 13TH OF NOVEMBER, oil on canvas, 90*106cm

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"BALL OF THE IDIOTS", oil on canvas, 90*130cm

Well ! This is it my friends ! I hope that you like this project ! It is very important to me, coming from my heart and feelings ! I wish to meet you all at the next exhibition and let's make it as the beginning of a long story...

Est-ce que tu aimes le moche ?