IMAGINING THE WORST

Marguerite Canguilhem’s intention is to faithfully reconstruct places and memories, and she juxtaposes divergent points of view within the same composition, so that her works broaden the field of investigation and multiply the potential of reality.

IMAGINING THE WORST features protagonists with ambiguous intentions; the nature and relationships of the objects depicted raise questions; and the outcome of the scenes seems uncertain. Through the artist’s manipulations, we witness the birth of strangeness.

Marguerite Canguilhem approaches reality through translations so precise that they paradoxically undermine meaning. This work of translation is complemented by the work of printing, at the heart of the artist’s approach. Monotypes and acetone transfers mirror a pre-existing image of identical size, frozen in the moment. For Marguerite Canguilhem, drawing is experienced as a trace, a distorted vector of the reality it brings to light.

These various techniques are not concealed, on the contrary: set design, multiple perspectives, compositional studies are all highlighted, and are linked to the narrative. Of course, everything is reinterpreted, but everything is shown: what interests Marguerite Canguilhem is precisely the place where her representations only imperfectly adjust to reality – double representations of single elements appear on the same plane. Varying perspectives and scales coexist in the same space, whose legibility both deteriorates and enriches, allowing for a variety of interpretations.

Marguerite Canguilhem invites us to actively investigate the heart of her creations, to trace our own path through the multiple forms and temporalities she simultaneously entangles.