Charlotte Guibé

Is it because she spent the first two years of her young life (she was born in 1982) bathed in the light of ancient culture, in the shadow of umbrella pines surrounding the Villa Médicis, or is it because she grew up in painter’s and sculptor’s studios, in creative writing workshops that Charlotte Guibé became a painter? Who can tell the secret behind one’s calling as an artist?

Very early on, she picked her language, discarding words, that lack immediacy, and selecting painting instead. Having studied for five years at the Paris School of Fine Arts [l’École des Beaux-arts], she discovered all the complexity of contemporary art and determinedly forged her own path. She thus decided to paint, knowing perfectly well that this is not the best way to get attention about her own work…

During a residency in the French region of Périgord noir, she produced a series of black paintings called The Night Reveals, an allusion to cave art…She experienced loneliness, the condition of the painter, and the importance of the location.

A residency at the Casa Velasquez (The French Art Academy in Madrid) inspired her to face interdisciplinarity: thus she embraced photography, cinema and music. Her first Dinners became the starting point of a musical and dancing piece that includes a painter and twelve musicians.

Starting in 2005, her journey takes her back and forward to China where she experiments a major discovery: she connects to the country and its people, and even adopts certain tools used by Chinese painters. Ten years ago, her path came across Daphné Mallet, founder of the Jiali gallery in Beijing where she held her first exhibition in 2012. This is also the location of her current exhibition entitled “As a presence” while her series Dinners is exhibited at the Meridian Space.