photo : Guy L’Heureux
What first appeals to us in Guillaume Lachapelle’s production is the prettiness of the sculptures and their childlike nature. The works produced in the various series Lachapelle has created since 2001 are micro-universes proffering ambiguous, overlapping elements of fantasy and realism. His work draws its strength from this ambiguity, which is also rendered as a tension between naturalist detail and improbable, stagey situations.
From one work to the next little dramas are revealed, showcasing domestic and urban scenes, populated mostly by strange characters and creatures. Each of these scenes seems an occasion to touch the spectator and to stir buried emotions. Lachapelle’s miniatures, rather than attempting to show such unperfectible worlds as city development programs or interior designs, consist of revealing the troubling undercurrents of the everyday, thus belying the familiarity and playfulness of one’s first impression on seeing the works.
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