/// Nobodies ///
From his first interventions in situ to his later displays, it's in his environment that -producer, scriptwriter, and director- Levalet carries out the casting of his playlets. Being himself constantly at the disposal of the artist, he's not afraid of enthronement!
Acclaimed by popular critics, won over and carried by the trumpet blast of Fame, five years of tours in France and other places made the entertainer feel that in the big spherical theater a comedy is played which, although human or divine, has put numerous actors in the background, as supporting actors at best.
« I'm nothing but a human being, strong, needing food, drinks, clothes. But I am invisible. Are you there yourself? Invisible! invisible! »
All ordinary actors have left are outfits, reflections of their social rank, of their professional status, from a class affiliation. Identifications heavy with prejudices, without regard for uniqueness. And even though « you can't judge a book by its cover », normative orders of promotion, advertising and institutions influence our dress codes.
Nobodies clothes and the absence of visible bodies are an open window on history, sometimes universal, sometimes specific. They leave the spectator the free will of projecting his real-life experiences, his emotions, his culture.
They bring us back to modern artists work such as Christian Boltanski or Liu Bolin. To Boltanski, a piece of clothing is a mark, a print of a past life. It's a constant of his work, particularly significant in the set-up La réserve at Centre Pompidou or Personnes for his Monumenta in Grand Palais. The Chinese artist Liu Bolin, as for himself, body and souls covered in paint, « hidden in the city », totally merges into those social unrest revealer landscapes.
Levalet, is a leopard that can't change his spots. With Perec's la Disparition ? Oulipo in mind, in which « suppressing the vowel [e] suppresses the origins and prevents memory reconstruction, then identity recovering » ?, he makes possible a disembodied human representation, opposite to art history in which the omnipresence of the body continues over the centuries. Playful, he crosses the Rubicon of the elusive portrait, echoing the cubist and surrealist variations!
The digital era just amplified the dehumanization phenomenon born with industrialization because « what's new in hopes and fears of the era of the machine, 's that the savior and the destroyer don't have a human face anymore ». This loss of bearings leads to a turning in on oneself, to communitarianism and to drifting into totalitarianism.
Social networks create and maintain the illusion of existence and sharing. Selfies becomes the intangible affirmation of the ego. « Suppose, for instance, a mirror... Hallucinations come so easily! » In the way of painted boards with holes of fairs and amusement parks, Levalet creates a portrait gallery on mirrors of a family dynasty with a chaotic path where we can assimilate, (re)find ourselves? «We are the nobodies / We wanna be somebodies»
Jean-Luc Hinsinger
In collusion with H.G. Wells, François Rabelais, Bruno Bettelheim, Marilyn Manson
/// Levalet ///
Charles Leval, known as Levalet, was born in 1988 in Epinal. He grew up in Guadeloupe, a place where he discovered urban culture, and then plastic arts. He studied visual arts in Strasbourg, France; Back then, his work was mostly turned toward video, and his inspiration coming from diligent theatrical practice. In 2012, he is getting the French diploma ?agrégation?, a year when his work also starts to spread all around the streets of Paris. Since then, he took part in many exhibitions and solo show, and in a few international gatherings as well.
Levalet?s work is mainly about drawing and installation. He draws his characters with Indian ink, and depicts them in the public space, creating a visual and semantic dialog with the present environment. His characters interact with the architecture and deploy in situations sometimes flirting with absurd.
/// About Gallery Brugier-Rigail ///
Created in 2001 by Eric Brugier and Laurent Rigail, The gallery Brugier-Rigail presents a selection of eclectic works, artists and currents which marked or will mark the world of the art. The tandem likes different artists and assumes to show it. The esthetic line of the gallery is atypical: at the same time ?Urban Art? with 1st artists of this movement such as, JonOne, John Matos Crash, Nick Walker, Shepard Fairey, Nasty or still Miss Tic, gallery also attempts to represent various currents of the 70s and 80.