Cuturi Gallery is delighted to present Hic et Nunc: The Presence of the Void by French artist Marion Charlet (b. 1982). In her first collaboration with the gallery, Charlet unveils a selection of new paintings that exemplify her distinctive approach, where architecture serves as a backdrop for a subtle dialogue between reality and imagination. Through her artworks, she explores constructed spaces, often devoid of human presence, transforming them into contemplative territories where colour plays a central role.
Marion Charlet’s compositions are rooted in her photographs and meticulous iconographic research, which she deconstructs and reinvents with architectural precision and a striking mastery of perspective. Interiors and gardens unfold through rigorous, geometric lines, illuminated by natural light that reveals their subtleties. This contrast between the structured order of the built environment and the organic abundance of nature creates a delicate tension, a captivating visual vibration that evokes wonder and invites contemplation.
Colour is the guiding thread of her work. Intense, saturated, and sometimes almost surreal, her chromatic palettes redefine volumes and breathe new life into forms. Through plays of transparency, opacity, and reflection, each painting comes alive, revealing its rhythmic depth. Colour thus softens and elevates the rigidity of architectural lines.
Whether evoking sacred temples, contemporary interiors, or dreamlike palaces, the spaces she depicts immerse us in a contemplative experience. These deserted places nonetheless resonate with a silent yet palpable presence. Marion Charlet transforms architecture into a theatre of imagination, where emptiness, far from being an absence, becomes a creative force, inviting us to project our gaze and inhabit these spaces in new ways.
Emptiness, in its purest form, symbolises the renunciation of certainty, allowing a deeper reality to emerge. To empty oneself is to embrace contemplation, a state of total presence, hic et nunc, here and now.
At the heart of these spaces lies a core: the Garbha-Griha, or “heart of the temple.” In this intimate sanctuary, offerings to the deities are placed. This enclosed space, where the warmth of human ritual meets the silence of the invisible divinity, creates a vibrant dialogue between the sacred and the profane, the present and eternity.
Every element in Marion Charlet’s paintings is meticulously chosen, adhering to a harmonious logic far removed from visual chaos. Symbolism is omnipresent: geometric patterns and intersecting surfaces form an ancient language in which each line and curve carries meaning. These architectural compositions become magical keys, unlocking doors to hidden realities.
Thus, in Marion Charlet’s works, emptiness becomes presence, fullness becomes offering, and the present moment, hic et nunc, is transformed into eternity.
Hic et Nunc: The Presence of the Void will be on exhibit at Cuturi Gallery from 15 March – 5 April 2025.
When: 15 Mar - 5 Apr 2025, 12pm - 7pm
By: Cuturi Gallery
