Céline Germès

Céline Germès’ paintings contrast the delicateness of their workmanship and smallness of their formats with the intensity of the subjects they depict. These pictures, which are based on news images from social media feeds or torch-lit, night-time photographs of nature, are mainly painted in oils and seem to be built on a time paradox. The immediacy of the snapshot contrasts with the slowness of the painting process. The warmth of the subjects coexists with the glazed materiality of the paint. The smoke, flames and electrical halos are as many textures that the artist enjoys capturing. They ignite the depiction to better emphasise colour and light. Through her works, Céline Germès constrains the spectacular into a form of gentleness, and in so doing broaches the subject of the proliferation of digital images and offers a new outlook on the world’s incandescence.