In a strange and dreamlike manner, Janaïna Tschäpe’s video Blood, Sea – the title is borrowed from Italo Calvino – immerses the viewer in an organic, colourful universe, freely asserting her sense of belonging to Brazilian culture.

For the Musée de l’Orangerie, Janaina Tschäpe paints and draws, thinking of Monet by his pond at Giverny when the old master was reinventing, beyond the myth of plein air painting, the happiness he felt in filling notebooks with quickly sketched observations. This language is not dissimilar to the language which, in 2018, shed light on the drawings affixed to some of her paintings: “This comes from my desire to stay a little longer with my painting when most of the work is done. I often feel a desire to continue touching up the painting a little more, with pencil for example, to go over its colourful skin like a caress, not only with large brushstrokes, but rather with small considered signs, with hesitation, to feel the nearness of the canvas with my hand or even with my nose. It is only afterwards that I can see what kind of signs this produces, to my great surprise.”

Image: Janaina Tschäpe, Blood, Sea, capture d’écran © Janaïna Tschäpe