Natacha Lesueur

For Natacha Lesueur, the body is an image, projects an image, or acts as a surface of inscription. Working mostly in portraits, often by series, she favors photography, and female figures take pride of place. Traces, imprints, hairpieces, jewels or ornaments, the idea is to twist, amplify and overwhelm, and not without humor or grotesque excess. In her portrait galleries – these joyous or scary phantasmagorias – the hair obviously plays a prominent role. Tiaras piled high with designer shoes, exuberant plumages or topiary evocations. Hairstyles and headdresses parade by, as if sourced in an anthropological collection that encompasses every extravagant and unspoken possibility.

They are adorned with gray hair and presented, according to the lexicon, en grisaille. Uncharacteristically for an artist whose figures are generally the fruit of long and meticulous development before the shot is taken, the smooth surface of the image is scratched or crayoned. So here comes the young bride, revisited, the angel in the house poking fun at macho, degrading stereotypes that stick to the admen’s dream homemaker. Pirate fairy or rocket fairy with, she says, "auratic fumes, dynamic flames and worrying combustions" spinning assignments on their heads and flaunting complex identities. With a wicked talent for a delicious feint, Natacha Lesueur role-plays with appearances, glossy images and photography.

In partnership with les Abattoirs, Musée – Frac Occitanie Toulouse