PRISES DE NOTES

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The reason Jeanne Lacombe manages, with such
ease, to combine elements which seem opposites, is
that she has repeatedly taken up working residencies
in two cities on the other side of the Mediterranean
coast, but which are practically visible from the ageing
European continent : in Instanbul and in Tangiers,
Jeanne Lacombe immersed herself in their cultures
and, from there, took a step back to observe the
Old Continent with its isolationist tendencies and
Western civilisation which refuses melting-pots and
diversity and thus risks speeding up its symbolic
decline. Our artist has long understood that travel
and distancing has allowed her to meet the Other
because otherness nourishes her work and allows
it to evolve. However, we are not saying that Jeanne
produces explicitly political art, with specific militant
claims. Not at all ; we are simply pointing out that her
art is subtly infused with her political awareness ; she
never imposes a particular vision of the world and yet
she is always ready to share her worldview with the
viewer. Thus we more readily understand the freedom
with which she treats her works and assembles them,
often transgressing the norms of conformism. Just as
the Caribbean poet Edouard Glissant has upheld his
theory of « world Créolisation » by writing poetry as
a political act, so Jeanne claims the diversity of her
sources of inspiration and wealth of her techniques,
which undeniably enrich her art. Her photography, her
colour inventions, her touch with her paintbrush, her
alchemy around her ceramics, all go into creating new
works and each new work is the fruit of an encounter.
Jeanne Lacombe has learnt from her travels and
has discovered many things in many countries. Her
subjects are very diverse and she is also fond of local
scenes and not shy of choosing mundane objects which
catch her eye and she cares little for the globalisation
of art. Indeed she turns her back on sameness and
yearns for difference. Nature, sky, water, earth,
Mediterranean plants, flowers and roses are not simply
excuses for using colours and shapes ; the viewer feels
them physically. Each of Jeanne’s paintings reminds
us of a intimate moment, a path we’ve trodden, a
family gathering, a fleeting moment, emotion-packed
souvenirs, images, smells and sensations. Although the
artist conjures up our memories, there is no nostalgia
involved. What links the subject of her paintings to our
own inner feelings is their very simplicity, sometimes
verging on the abstract.
Her work has a universal quality, each work is
suspended in time ; and that time may linger on, but
noone knows if it is here to stay.