ENG\/\/<\/p>\n
Though many of us might have first encountered Paul Maheke\u2019s work through his body of
\nperformance and dance, the artist\u2019s early practice is largely comprised of drawings and wall-based
\nworks. In one of his six drawings from the series le fant\u00f4me (2011), a pair of eyes appear softly drawn
\nwithin the frame of an otherwise mostly empty white sheet of paper. Studded with an iridescent
\npigment made of nacre, these eyes piercingly assert a presence despite highlighting a missing face,
\ncreating the possibility for the rest of a being that, though whose outline is hidden or absent, seems to
\nbe nevertheless hauntingly there.<\/p>\n
Across various forms and artistic disciplines, Maheke has sustained a long-term exploration into the
\nways that marginalised bodies, narratives and histories are made visible and invisible. Resisting a
\nprobing of identity that sits solely within the framework of identity politics, Maheke\u2019s trajectory has
\ncontinuously been channelled through spectral sensations. The artist has called in ghosts, spirits and
\nnon-human beings into his works to invite a re-orientation to the way that we, the audience, are able
\nto perceive; which is to say, to reframe the way that we are able to see, feel and listen. In
\nreconfiguring the sensible, Maheke seeks to shift the dominant systems of discourse production and
\nunderstanding that heavily depend on representation, visibility and legibility as the ultimate forms of
\ntruth, value and\/or power. Instead, the artist nurtures the formation of a self through a state of in-
\nbetweenness; one where esoteric, spiritual, queer and embodied knowledge(s) help Maheke garner the
\npotential for prophecy.<\/p>\n
For the artist\u2019s first solo exhibition in an institution in France, at Triangle in Marseille, Maheke
\ninvoked OOLOI, the third sex figure among the extra-terrestrial Oankali from Octavia Butler\u2019s sci-fi
\ntrilogy, Xenogenesis. This fictional\u00a0\u2013 yet, for all purposes here, real \u2013 entity infused the space with a
\nheightened sensory field; one in which words, light, sounds and even subtle movements nodded to its
\ninvisible presence. Of particular sensory effect was the waving of sheer scarlet curtains that hung
\nfloor-to-ceiling across the vast expanse of La Friche Belle de Mai. Partitioning and dividing a
\nphysically vacuous room of the former tobacco factory, the curtains created a depth of field that
\nblurred vision. Maheke\u2019s own body appeared and disappeared through these curtains as part of S\u00e8nsa
\n(2019), a performance that saw the artist moving across the space, making himself at times as faintly
\nvisible \u2013 yet as palpable \u2013 as OOLOI. Both through his strategies for (dis)appearance and the
\nseemingly improvised nature of his movements, Maheke\u2019s S\u00e8nsa undoes the Western canon\u2019s efforts
\nof devaluing the transcendental by insisting on what is felt over what is seen; by being trusting of
\nwhat the body and mind know, over what it has been asked to learn.<\/p>\n
Diable Blanc (2019), the title of Maheke\u2019s second solo exhibition at the Paris-based gallery Sultana,
\nsimilarly sought to dispel invisibility as being synonymous with absence, instead of calling on the occult
\nto take up space. For Possessed, the artist revisits some of these works. Here, 3D laser-etched
\ndrawings in glass cubes depict devils rendered in the style of European Symbolist painting; their very
\ntittle dis-associating their angelic, frail and innocent \u2018nature\u2019 from their diabolical, powerful and
\nconsequential forces. The barn owl \u2013 a recurring symbol in Maheke\u2019s practice \u2013\u00a0also makes an
\nappearance, and with an equal reparative purpose. Believed to be a messenger of untold stories, the
\nbarn owl bears with them wisdom and knowledge, bringing into light what is all too often left in the
\ndark.<\/p>\n
*written by Eliel Jones for the Poss\u00e9d\u00e9.e.s: Deviance, Performance, R\u00e9sistance<\/em> MO.CO exhibition catalogue, 2020<\/p>\n FR\/\/<\/p>\n Bien que la plupart d’entre nous aient pu d\u00e9couvrir les \u0153uvres de Paul Maheke \u00e0 travers ses performances et ses danses, la premi\u00e8re pratique de l’artiste est principalement constitu\u00e9e de dessins et d’\u0153uvres murales. Dans l’un de ses six dessins de la s\u00e9rie le fant\u00f4me (2011), une paire d’yeux appara\u00eet l\u00e9g\u00e8rement dessin\u00e9e sur une feuille blanche quasi vide. Cr\u00e9\u00e9s avec un pigment iridescent nacr\u00e9, ces yeux affirment de mani\u00e8re per\u00e7ante une pr\u00e9sence, mettant en \u00e9vidence un visage manquant, accentuant ces restes, ce qui, bien que ses contours soient cach\u00e9s ou absents, marque n\u00e9anmoins sa pr\u00e9sence obs\u00e9dante.<\/p>\n \u00c0 travers de multiples formes et disciplines artistiques, Paul Maheke a men\u00e9 une recherche sur le long terme sur la mani\u00e8re dont les corps, les r\u00e9cits et les histoires marginalis\u00e9s sont accentu\u00e9s et dissimul\u00e9s. En luttant contre un questionnement sur l’identit\u00e9 qui s\u2019inscrit uniquement dans le cadre de la politique identitaire, la trajectoire de Paul Maheke a continuellement \u00e9t\u00e9 canalis\u00e9e par des sensations spectrales. L’artiste a fait appel \u00e0 des fant\u00f4mes, des esprits et des \u00eatres inhumains dans ses \u0153uvres pour inciter une r\u00e9orientation de la mani\u00e8re dont nous, les spectateurs, sommes capables de percevoir \u2013 c\u2019est-\u00e0 dire pour recadrer la mani\u00e8re de voir, de sentir et d’\u00e9couter. En configurant \u00e0 nouveau le sensible, Maheke cherche \u00e0 remanier les syst\u00e8mes dominants de production et de compr\u00e9hension du discours qui d\u00e9pendent fortement de la repr\u00e9sentation, de la visibilit\u00e9 et de la lisibilit\u00e9 en tant que formes ultimes de v\u00e9rit\u00e9, de valeur et de pouvoir. L’artiste favorise plut\u00f4t la formation d’un individu par un \u00e9tat d’entre-deux, dans lequel les connaissances \u00e9sot\u00e9riques, spirituelles, suspectes et incarn\u00e9es aident Maheke \u00e0 recueillir le potentiel de proph\u00e9tie.<\/p>\n Pour sa premi\u00e8re exposition personnelle dans une institution en France, \u00e0 Triangle \u00e0 Marseille, Paul Maheke a invoqu\u00e9 \u00ab OOLOI \u00bb, la troisi\u00e8me figure sexuelle des extraterrestres \u00ab Oankali \u00bb de la trilogie de science-fiction d’Octavia Butler, Xenogenesis. Cette entit\u00e9 fictive, et pourtant, r\u00e9elle, a impr\u00e9gn\u00e9 l’espace d\u2019un champ sensoriel accru, dans lequel les mots, la lumi\u00e8re, les sons et m\u00eame les mouvements subtils ont fait un clin d’\u0153il \u00e0 sa pr\u00e9sence invisible. Suspendus du sol au plafond sur l\u2019immense \u00e9tendue de la Friche Belle de Mai, l’ondulation des rideaux \u00e9carlates ont un effet sensoriel particulier. Partitionnant et divisant une pi\u00e8ce mat\u00e9riellement vide de cette ancienne usine de tabac, les rideaux cr\u00e9ent une profondeur de champ, brouillant la vision. Le corps de Paul Maheke apparait et disparait \u00e0 travers ces rideaux dans le cadre de S\u00e8nsa (2019), performance dans laquelle l’artiste se meut dans l’espace, se rendant parfois aussi peu visible – et pourtant autant tangible que \u00ab OOLOI \u00bb. \u00c0 travers ses strat\u00e9gies de (d\u00e9s)apparition par la nature improvis\u00e9e de ses mouvements, S\u00e8nsa d\u00e9fait les efforts du canon occidental de d\u00e9valorisation du transcendental en insistant sur ce qui est ressenti plut\u00f4t que sur ce qui est vu ; en se fiant aux connaissances du corps et l’esprit, plut\u00f4t qu’\u00e0 ce qu’on lui a demand\u00e9 d’apprendre.<\/p>\n Diable Blanc (2019), la deuxi\u00e8me exposition personnelle de Paul Maheke, \u00e0 la galerie Sultana \u00e0 Paris, cherche \u00e0 dissiper l’invisibilit\u00e9 consid\u00e9r\u00e9e comme synonyme d’absence, appelant donc l’occulte \u00e0 occuper l’espace. Pour Poss\u00e9d\u00e9\u00b7e\u00b7s, l’artiste revisite certaines de ces \u0153uvres. Ici, des dessins en 3D grav\u00e9s au laser dans des cubes de verre repr\u00e9sentent des diables du style de la peinture symboliste europ\u00e9enne : leur titre m\u00eame dissocie leur \u00ab nature \u00bb ang\u00e9lique, f\u00e9brile et innocente de leurs forces diaboliques, puissantes et cons\u00e9quentes. La chouette effraie – symbole r\u00e9current tant r\u00e9parateur dans la pratique de l\u2019artiste – fait \u00e9galement une apparition. Consid\u00e9r\u00e9e comme le messager d’histoires in\u00e9puisables, l\u2019effraie des clochers porte en elle la sagesse et le savoir, mettant en lumi\u00e8re ce qui est trop souvent laiss\u00e9 dans les t\u00e9n\u00e8bres.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ENG\/\/ Though many of us might have first encountered Paul Maheke\u2019s work through his body of performance and dance, the artist\u2019s early practice is largely comprised of drawings and wall-based works. In one of his six drawings from the series le fant\u00f4me (2011), a pair of eyes appear softly drawn within the frame of an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2798","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P4E7Fe-J8","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/paulmaheke.com\/projets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/paulmaheke.com\/projets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/paulmaheke.com\/projets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/paulmaheke.com\/projets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/paulmaheke.com\/projets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2798"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/paulmaheke.com\/projets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2798\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3515,"href":"http:\/\/paulmaheke.com\/projets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2798\/revisions\/3515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/paulmaheke.com\/projets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}