Françoise Issaly: More than the eye can see (见所未见)

Current artist-in-residence Françoise Issaly is showing her works in the solo exhibition 'More Than The Eye Can See'. For this exhibition the artist is showing works that were created between 2018 and 2022, a site specific installation and some of her videos.

For more than a year now, Francoise Issaly started a new body of work, “The Athena series”, in which she explores the patterns of platanus trees cork (Trees which are present in Shanghai but also in the south of France, where the artist is coming from). Humans are like these trees: they are trying to protect themselves from pain by building walls in the hopes that they will not get hurt. The attempts are mostly in vain, more an illusion than a fact, and demonstrates how fragile humans are.

The artist wanted to create a series about vulnerability. She first used the shapes to draw and very quickly the idea of the carapace, shield and armor came about. The name of the series, The Athena Series, came as a logical step. It is also important to note that the artist's interest in the symbolism of Athena is not new since she wrote a PhD research project about her representation during her university time.

This new body of work is very personal and is about the (re) discovery of self, and the combination of past and present.

Venue: HOLARTE Galerie, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
Exhibition: July 16th, 2022 – September 17th, 2022