Flatland/Abstractions Narratives #2

‘Flatland /Narrative Abstractions #2’, the first part of which was presented at the MRAC Occitanie/Pyrénées-Méditerranée in Sérignan in 2016, brings together some twenty contemporary artists who doubly echo Edwin Abbott’s book: on the one hand, because they compose narratives from abstract forms; on the other hand, because by collating the notions of “abstraction” and “narration”, they may be considered heretical from the point of view of a certain history of art. Indeed, inseparable as it is from artistic modernity, abstraction has largely been based on the rejection of narration and symbolism in the field of visual art. To associate “abstraction” and “narration” could at first be seen as a contradiction in terms, an impossibility, even though this is questioned in a large number of contemporary productions.

The aim of this exhibition is to highlight one of the most original and paradoxical forms related to the return of narrative in contemporary art. Loaded with references to artistic as well as extra-artistic fields, undoing the autonomy of visual languages advocated by historical abstractions, the artworks in ‘Flatland/Narrative Abstractions #2’ are intentionally presented as silent narratives waiting to be activated by the viewer. It is thus a case of tracing the contours of a singular trend and highlighting the diversity of its manifestations and themes via a multitude of artists from Europe and the United
States.