Editorial 

For their new solo exhibition “Anthropologic” at the Avenue des Arts gallery in Los Angeles, the French duo, Murmure (composed of Paul Ressencourt and Simon Roché), questions the environmental and societal issues posed by human consumerist logic to the detriment of our planet. Through three series of works, different themes are approached and treated in a way specific to each one, in terms of techniques, colors or symbolism.

This exhibition marks a real turning point in the artistic approach of the duo, in regard to technique and media. Originally known for their work in black and white with black chalk on paper, for the first time, they will present their work entirely in acrylic and in color on canvas and on recycled plastic sheets, as well as their first bronze sculpture.

In the end, it is twenty-eight works that will be presented to the public, inviting the audience to immerse themselves in the artistic universe of the duo and share with them the view they have on our world while also leaving everyone a total freedom to interpret their message according to each one own sensitivities.

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Garbage Series

The series "Garb-age", was at the center of the previous eponymous solo show of Murmure, focusing at the time on the technique in black chalk on paper. This series seeks to explore the problem of waste by twisting the trash bag, this symbolic object of our era, in a dreamlike and poetic way.

For this exhibition, the duo focuses on the human through a series of portraits as well as a never shown before series titled “Saynètes” allowing them to further explore their ongoing project that started in 2019. The faces are replaced by trash bags, masking the features that make each person unique and recognizable. The features, the folds, the knot, and the characteristic shape of the garbage bag, thus reveal another personality, also unique in the image of the waste produced by a person and reminds us of each person's responsibility.

As part of a desire to diversify techniques, this series is an opportunity for Murmure to create for the first time not only works in acrylic on canvas, but also the first bronze sculpture entirely made by hand by the duo in collaboration with the famous R Bocquel Art Foundry.

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Red Hot Series

The "Red Hot" series explores the issue of climate change, which we are witnessing today, and which manifests itself in impressive atmospheric events. Among these, fires and other sandstorms offer a dramatically unique spectacle. Tinting the sky with surreal colors, they bathe the landscapes in a mystical atmosphere as aesthetic as it is dangerous in reality.

Produced on a bright and vibrant red paper, the black chalk technique brings softness and depth to the drawing, plunging the viewer into the vagueness of the unreality of these catastrophes and transcribing this apocalyptic sensation.

While Murmure is known for the precision and hyper-realism of their designs, the "Red Hot" series is distinguished by a deliberately more loose and evanescent rendering. This is enabled by the technique used here, which consists of grinding the black chalk and applying it with a brush. While the works in this series remain technically drawings, the artist's gesture is that of a painter, thus allowing the duo to appropriate a new graphic signature. 

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Background Series

Murmure is delighted to present exclusively and for the first time their new series “Background”. This series was born out of the duo's desire to explore new techniques and media, but in such a way as to have a deep meaning and not just aesthetic. This is how he focused on upcycled plastic sheets made of shredded cosmetics bottles with the idea that the patterns created naturally and randomly by the material during the manufacturing process serve as the background for the imagined composition.

The image is integrated in a subtle and perfectly natural way thanks to the acrylic paint and the addition of a multitude of details. All the elements merging together in one and the same work, misleading the viewer's gaze and playing on depths of field and perspectives.

The medium used thus makes it possible to symbolically deal with the issue of plastic waste, a scourge that pollutes our soils and our oceans all over the world. The abyss of the recycling process through this series is particularly striking, the background serving the purpose as much as the visual, everything makes sense. However, once again the series leaves everyone a great freedom of interpretation for each work.

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