A solo show by Jean-Damien Charmoille curated by Nadja Geer with a text by Violette Blaise:

"It smells like petrichor, from the floor to the ceiling, on the roadsides before going through the doors. Somewhere on the boulevard, further on, it stinks ; some are digging, some are lying in a tide of plastic ー falling asleep. At the edge, the walls always keep their eyes open ; endless walls, made of incomprehensible opaque substance bricks. In the interstices, some capsules shelter these hollow existences blowing the leaves off the pavement, (but) always seeing them fall back, at last. Facing the incurable green cloud, in its interstices, nobody moves. Occasionally, at night, the boulevard sees its glass armour yielding to the glow of the blinking neon lights. Almost at the very end, a sign threatens : attempt to exhaust an endless boulevard. Elsewhere, by the side of different roads, concrete weeds emerge from the awakened rubble.

So, now, how do we live on this highway?"

Jean-Damien Charmoille (born 1990) lives and works in Athens, Greece after previously residing five years in  Leipzig. Consisting principally of figurative oil paintings, Jean-Damien Charmoille's work is to be understood at the crossway of a classical approach applied to contemporary subjects, or objects. His current artistic intention consists of seeking a new form of realism – a postmodern realism that deals with the postmodern that is spread out before our eyes. Capturing the contemporaneity of the world around us and the desire to engage with the present and the documentary has led him to a series of portraits. Portraits of anonymous people who attracted his attention often by their solitude, their daze within the urban rhythm. To get in touch with the contemporary and what he feels as its nerve centers – besides the people living there.

Selected exhibitions:  2023 - 180x120, Haus N, Athens (GR) Curation : Florent Frizet 2022 – Textures du réel, Aedaen Gallery, Strabsourg (FR) 2022– Retours au non-lieu, Centre d'Art Contemporain, Flaine (FR) 2019 /Galeries Nomades, IAC Villeurbanne Exsitu 2018 – Disillusions in a french garden, Galerie Dukan, Leipzig (DE)/180x120, Haus N, Athens (GR) Curation : Florent Frizet 2022 – Stress Test, HAU Hebbel am Huffer, Berlin (DE)Curation : New Scenario 2022 – A5, ASEM, Leipzig (DE)/Erik Swars 2021 – Opportunity Island, SMiLe, Leipzig (DE)/L'envers des pentes, Artist residency, Massif des écrins, Alpes (FR) Curation : Marion Wintrebert 2021 – The days are just packed, The Pool, Istanbul (TU) Curation : Marian Luft, Ece Candugen 2020 – La Station, Artist residency, Nice (FR) 2020 – Chalet Radiant, Verchaix (FR), Curation : Data Rhei 2019 – Back Lane West, Artist residency, Redruth, Cornouaille, (UK) 2019 – Through the Windows, Soej Kritik/Fugitif, Leipzig (DE)