Quentin Spohn

The multitude of details that make up Quentin Spohn's black chalk drawings structure and compose imposing murals. Halfway between a chronicle of the times and a collection of the artist's obsessions, his work, which refers both to the masters of social science fiction (particularly J. G. Ballard) and to American figurative painting, depicts a dystopian and disquieting world. It also borrows elements from current events and digital culture. The grid of a platform video game can, for instance, support an array of various bizarre elements. Identifiable characters are also featured in strange compositions, such as the trader Jérôme Kerviel, shrouded in a torrent of digits and standing on a wad of banknotes. The large formats and composite arrangements of Quentin Spohn's drawings on canvas make them imposing presences in the exhibition space, inviting us to become immersed in the infinite mass of data that fuels the artist's life and our own.