Earlier this month I was strolling through the Marais and discovered a pop up gallery at 6 rue Elzevir, a side street off of rue des Francs Bourgeois.
The show at the gallery, Anima, was a collaboration between two artists Emmanuel Abiteboul and Maxime Simon. On one wall was a series of what appeared to be elaborate illustrations of Tarot symbols by Maxime and each one had roman numeral on top. The illustrations were so exquisitely and finely painted that I spent a long time looking at the details. I also loved the symbolism.
The show closed on July 6, but Maxime sent me a press release about the show and the thought process and ideas they were conveying in the exhibition.
Maxime has created a dreamlike world inspired by Tarot from Marseille (Tarot de Marseille is a French standard for which the design of Tarot cards are derived from), and each card is an archetype that he defines, and then executes it with influences from Greek mythology, sacred art, and pop culture.
On the other walls was the work of Emmanuel Abiteboul a series of male torsos that emulate ancient Greek statues. Each one has a circle of gold where the head is, almost giving a halo like affect. Abiteboul successfully conveys his philosophy of the work, where he questions the materiality of bodies and how they fade away, just leaving their shadows behind.
In other works, he cleverly infuses the work modern day technology by embroidering motherboards and from computers and other electronic devices with gold and silver threads, repurposing them as objects of beauty.
Maxime also created a limited edition of a deck of Tarot cards using the illustrations from the show.
Here are both of their websites and Instagram tags so you can check out their work.
Maxime Simon
https://www.ateliermaximesimon.com/
https://www.instagram.com/maxime.s.simon/
Emmanuel Abiteboul
https://emmanuelabiteboul.com/
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