Beyond the lights

For the exhibition “Beyond the lights“, ifa gallery proposes a series of “luminous” works by varied artists such as Zane Mellupe or Christophe Demaître.

Since the 1950s, natural or artificial light has become a privileged material for many contemporary artistic practices, whether they come from painting, sculpture or photography. For a long time, the light was a mystical or religious symbol materialising the divine and integrated by artists such as physical and natural. It has graduallly been introduced as immaterial, almost tangible, prevailing in art.

Zane Mellupe, based in Shanghai since 2001, has been exploring the photographic medium since her early years. A Sinology graduate from the University of Latvia, the artist experiments with a variety of mediums. In her artworks, light is a medium questionning three of her preferred subjects : the image, the object and the body. Her installations « electronic knitting » from the « Family Relics » serie evoke the passing of values down from the generations to generation. Zane Mellupe uses light into her works using luminous wires interpreting the passing links such as umbilical  cords.

Christophe Demaître, graduated in visual arts in Kortrijk then Ghent, employs photography like an alchemist. The Belgian artist, expatriated in China for 10 years, develops his images on paper, canvas, metal or even on resin. Exhibited artworks show the portrait of Asian megalopolis, of the city of Shanghai in particular, one of these cities irreversibly modified by rampant modernisation in both lifestyle and architecture.