Pierre et Gilles - Les couleurs du temps

Galerie Templon has chosen the subtly engaged work of Pierre et Gilles to see out 2022 on the Rue du Grenier Saint-Lazare space in Paris. With The Colours of Time exhibition, the couple, famed for their portraits where painting and photography meet, unveil a series full of sensitivity, bearing witness to the contradictions of our time.

In a carefully designed layout, Pierre et Gilles present the works they have produced over the last three years. Their paintings, all unique, are meticulously executed in the intimacy of the studio, using life-size custom-built sets. Pierre directs the initial photo session, with Gilles then undertaking a slow process of hand-painting directly onto the canvas print. The result, an artisanal and ambiguous photographic painting, offers a vision of the world that is both enchanting and disturbing, a universe where the sensuality of colour transfigures each subject.

The exhibition opens with a short series in homage to Ukraine. The promise and The harvests of sorrow delicately depict young Ukrainians weeping for lost innocence and peace. Opposite them, a masked self-portrait of the artists posing crouched like gopniks invites all of us together to watch over a world in full meltdown. Their attentive, solemn and unconventional vision is then expressed through a vast gallery of portraits with contrasting atmospheres. Like a newspaper, the exhibition testifies to the turmoil of current events as well as the artists' many encounters and their most visceral concerns.