ART CITIES: Paris-Mathilde Denize
Mathilde Denize has often recounted the story of her “original sin”: studying at the Beaux-Arts de Paris in the early 2010s, she was determined to create a more realistic art, which none of her teachers encouraged. She was weighed down by the hundreds of canvasses she had accumulated over the years until she had an epiphany: she realized that she needed to tear them apart, without any regard for the time she had invested in them, in a joyous orgy, a sort of auto-da-fé of her own work, cutting out little pieces that she reassembled, sewed together and literally reanimated in the costume-paintings that made her famous.
By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Le Plateau Archive
“Camera Ballet” is Mathilde Denize’s first solo exhibition in an institutional setting in the Paris region. The show takes over the expansive galleries of Le Plateau, framing Denize’s evolving practice within a context that emphasizes materiality, movement, and spatial perception.
At the core of Denize’s work is a hybrid artistic language that defies conventional categorization. Painting and sculpture serve not as distinct mediums but as points of departure for a broader investigation into form, memory, and presence. “Camera Ballet” draws visitors into this investigation, inviting them to move through an immersive constellation of object-paintings, textile sculptures, video works, and performative arrangements that activate the surrounding architecture.
Denize’s process is rooted in transformation and reimagining. She frequently cuts up her old canvases and incorporates fragments of found materials and discarded objects into new compositions, a method she likens to film editing. This approach produces works that occupy ambiguous thresholds — between armour and camouflage, presence and absence, figure and field. The resulting hybrid forms often resemble costumes without bodies, floating silhouettes, or suspended figures that seem to flicker in and out of perception, like characters in a tracking shot.
This cinematic sensibility — embedded in the exhibition’s title — resonates throughout “Camera Ballet”. Denize’s use of cutting and recombination evokes narrative montage, while the spatial choreography of the works transforms the gallery into a stage for the viewer’s gaze. Rather than presenting a linear narrative, the exhibition proposes spaces of perception where forms are encountered on the move and in flux, encouraging a mode of looking that is as fluid as the works themselves.
The visual language of Denize’s pieces hovers between the recognisable and the elusive. Figures suggested through shape and colour may blend into their surroundings like a halo or appear fleetingly as the viewer changes vantage point. Paradoxically, the absence of bodies in these compositions amplifies their psychological and physical presence, giving rise to an aura that lingers in the mind long after one has exited the space.
Curated by Céline Poulin, the exhibition includes numerous pieces created specifically for this presentation, underscoring Denize’s ability to adapt her practice to the conditions of a given space. In doing so, “Camera Ballet” operates not merely as a collection of objects but as a theatrical staging of materials and presences — a silent choreography where forms seem to dance in suspended animation.
Through “Camera Ballet”, Denize challenges conventional modes of visual engagement and foregrounds an expanded understanding of painting and sculpture. Her work prompts a reconsideration of how we attend to shape, surface, and depth, blurring the boundaries between mediums and inviting reflection on the very act of seeing.
“Camera Ballet” at Le Plateau represents a significant moment in Denize’s career — a platform on which her singular artistic voice unfolds in dialogue with space, movement, and time. It stands as a testament to her ongoing exploration of the material and perceptual possibilities of contemporary art.
Photo: Exhibition view “Mathilde Denize – Camera Ballet”, Frac Île-de-France, Le Plateau, photo: Tanguy Beurdeley. Courtesy of the artist and Perrotin. © Mathilde Denize / ADAGP, Paris 2025
Info: Curator: Céline Poulin, Frac Île-de-France, Le Plateau, 22 rue des Alouettes, Paris, France, Duration: 26/9-14/12/2025, Days & Hours: Wed-Sun 14:00-19:00, www.fraciledefrance.com/
