GÉNIE DE LA BASTILLE - Art Gallery (Paris). Exhibition of the triptych of drawings on photography, Off-road, byroad, as part of the collective exhibition Hors-pistes from April 2 to 7, 2024.
Opening of the exhibition on April 4, 2024.

Both words of the title of this triptych of drawings on photographs, "off-road" and "byroad", evoke the fact that someone would walk away from the road and on a minor road. The idea of these drawings occurred to me in response to a call for works from Le GÉNIE DE LA BASTILLE Gallery on the topic "Hors-pistes" ("off-road").

Crosswalks on the pavements indicate us that a regulatory route. This triptych plays with categories blending photography and drawing and plays on, on the one hand, the real object photographed (the crosswalks), and on the other hand, the French locutions "être hors des clous" (to be out of the box) and "faire du hors-piste" (off-piste, off a marked route). 

The change of scale encourages us to extend our perspective. Sorts of moving figurines seem to be climbing or descending mountains, as if we had zoomed in on microscopic beings travelling across urban cartographies at our feet.

Triptych of 18x24 cm drawings arranged horizontally; close-up photograph of a zebra crossing; photographic print and drawing in black marker.

Triptych of drawings arranged horizontally (18x24 cm x 3); close-up photograph of a zebra crossing; photographic print on a 200 g drawing paper; drawing in black marker on the printed photographs.

Clara Maïda, April 2024