The Castle of Chamarande welcomes the improbable Artwork of Philippe Pasqua

After the Monaco Oceanographic Museum, and before flying to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Philippe Pasqua is the guest of the Departmental Domain of Chamarande, 30mn away from Paris, until December 30th, 2018. With its 17th century castle, its 18th century orangery and its vast English park, the Estate is the perfect setting to host the first major retrospective French works of Philippe Pasqua with exceptional dimensions and yet so human. Exceptional artist, self-taught and virtuoso draftsman, Philippe Pasqua provokes an emotional dialogue with the spectators by the monumentality of his sculptural and pictorial works who speak to the fantastic imagination.

The ALLEGORIA untitled exhibition reveals all the facets of the creative world of Philippe Pasqua, in playing on a course mixing old works and recent productions. In the orangery, it is the majestic portraits of women, five meters long, which are presented; in the driveway of honor, it is the chrome shark hanging from a ten meters high portico that leads you to the castle. In the castle, a set of drawings, sculptures, paintings, collages unfolds in from the multi-faceted installation “Le Chant des Méduses” (picture upstairs, 2016, 400 x 220 x 150 cm, metal container, glass, various materials), a symbolic work of the universe of this extraordinary artist; echoing in the great meadow, the bronzes of the noble and delicate olive trees with crooked trunks. The curation of the exhibition is insured by Julie Sicault Maillé, exhibition manager of the Departmental Domain of Chamarande and Henri-François Debailleux, Art critic (photo credits: Alexandre Plateaux).

In his artistic approach, Philippe Pasqua, born in 1965 in Grasse but living in Lisbon), represented by the Galerie RX, explores the field of his emotions and gives them a collective dimension. Ugliness and beauty intersect and her models become iconic: disabled children, transgender people, prostitutes or family members. All reflect the universal. The intensity of the looks, the strength of expressions permeate his paintings or the monumental sculptures with the metallic shark (nearby picture), the naughty turtle, the baby Durex ostrich or even the plastic medusa sea.

Technically Philippe Pasqua goes from drawing to humour painting, from collage to sculpture, in the same mastery of an assertive style. In 1999, Philippe Pasqua takes up the concept of vanities in sculpture: he interprets the subject of the human skull, which he adorns with precious materials. The ephemeral and the inconstancy of existence are confronted with the eternal. In recent years, the evolution of the world and species has become the subject of its concerns. The thought of Darwin and that of contemporary scientists, associated with the notion of a sacred link to spirituality, inspire his achievements.

The work of Philippe Pasqua exploits all the registers of feelings, going from one extreme to the other.
Some of the works are very gentle and show deep empathy with its models, others translate a darker aspect, sometimes primitive, or develop a humor almost childish. Whatever they are, his creations do not leave you indifferent, and give you to see by the look of an artist with sensitivity to the skin.
A part of that fantastic world of Philippe Pasqua, the sculpted olives for instance, will be acquired by the Department for the Departmental Domain of Chamarande.

About the Castle… Property of the Department of Essonne since 1978, the Domain of Chamarande is classified in the historical monuments register. In the XVIIIth century, the edifice met a deep renovation orchestrated by the famous architect Pierre Contant d’Ivry, who built new outbuildings, beyond the village road near the village, had a carved pediment made of a helmet and garlands, with the Latin maxim “Pax huic domui” (“peace be in this house”). He also lead the decoration of the park with an orangery, a belvedere, a cooler, a cascatelle, an oval grove and a “game of oye” with a “temple of love” in its center. In the 1990s, several rehabilitation projects were carried out. The 98-hectare park was remodeled by the landscape architect Jacques Sgard and, in 1999, the Departmental Archives take place in the courtyard and the wings of the château’s outbuildings.
The Essonne Department then decided to dedicate the entire site to culture and creation.
As an unique place in the Ile-de-France, it combines both an artistic and cultural center and a set built in a landscaped area labeled “Remarkable Garden”. An atypical heritage site, the Domaine de Chamarande is a key cultural facility in the Essonne region, with an annual program, and in particular a summer multidisciplinary offer, the “Scenes croisés” and “Chamarande Paradiso”.
The free access to the site – park, activities, exhibitions, workshops and shows – allows meeting with a wide audience and promotes access to culture for all Essonniens.
Events highlights:
– “Scenes crossed”: programming of live show (theater, music, circus, dance, story …), in June and July.
– Outdoor cinema, in August.
– Exhibition, all the year.

Canoeing is also available:

Until 1 October 2017, on the Lovers Waterway.

> July-August-September: every weekend, 14h-19h

> tariff of rent of a boat for 30 mn: 5 € by boat with 4 people max. – deposit by check: 50 €

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