Opening on Wednesday, June 19th, 6-9 pm
This summer 2024, Les filles du calvaire presents Louis Verret's solo exhibition, The Atlas, Player. A series of watercolors on paper that interrogate the relationship between the spectacle of football and a political history of imagery. This exhibition is featured in the official program of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
"The exhibition The Atlas, Player showcases a series of watercolors on paper drawn from a collection titled The Fruits of Passion, wherein I explore the interplay between the spectacle of football and a political narrative of imagery.
At Les filles du calvaire, I will display several dozen portraits and full-length figures of football players. With global renown and extensive media coverage, the football player serves as an inexhaustible conduit of emotions. It is a familiar scene, recurring several times a month and often weekly: a lit field in the night and a sense of anticipation. What unfolds next? Whether viewed on television or from the stadium seats, alone or with friends, my hope extends beyond mere athletic performance to encompass the spectacle itself. And therein lies the tragedy, ceaselessly enacted and perpetually renewed in its narrative. It evokes tradition. The unattainable. The timeless.
Thus, in my paintings, the player exists beyond the confines of the game: static, in celebration, furious, refusing to continue, dismayed, melancholic, abandoned. It is a portrayal not of athleticism but of theater. The watercolor medium, with its aqueous essence (comprising sweat, tears, droplets, rain, water, mud), intensifies the player's emotional expression, bearing witness to an overflow, whether past or impending. At the brink of emotional climax, the revelation remains incomplete."
— Louis Verret
