“ My work relies on intuitive layers of materials, feelings and memory. I use wax, latex, silicone, ink, or films in different shapes as sediments adding one to another, building layers of time, smooth skins and distorted bodies”.
Text
Coral, humus, underbrush, seagrass, lichen: lifeforms all dependent on symbiotic relationships. Their life ability to regenerate is their intrinsic power. Their removal hinders the possibility of new life, making it nearly impossible to artificially create the conditions of their regeneration. Camille de Galbert creates these same fundamental ecosystems through patient, repetitive and cumulative movements. On the other end of this life cycle, we find sediments – the remnants of a life cycle – disintegrating, like these carbon black specimens.
In scaling up and becoming curious about the infinitely small within these symbiotic ecosystems–exploring hidden zones, villus, crevices–Camille de Galbert reveals some of the most mysterious forms of matter. Is Dermis the microscopic magnification of Strata, or is it the other way around? They both are the interface between the visible and the invisible. Inspired by fractal art, this dive inside matter suggests that everything finite can continue into infinity. This notion of scale is fascinating because we, as human beings, are faced with finiteness inherent to our human condition, while also being constantly surrounded by countless infinities. Nature is filled with fractal objects–irregularities–that are capable of self- replicating and limitless growth that both amazes us and pushes us to the edges of our comprehension.
As both a woman and artist, the question of movement is central to Camille de Galbert’s work. From dance and films to optical illusions or “trompe l’œil” that change as the viewer moves their eyes, creating a form of kinetic art. The movement of going toward, going in is omnipresent in this work, most notably in curves and the sculpting of casting. Using ancestral materials such as wax, resin, and pigments, as a formal reference to Lynda Benglis, the artist enters a physical relationship with matter as she works with a sense of urgency in an unpredictable medium.
Movement is at the center of all of life, down to the cellular level. The artwork Oeufs relates to cellular reproduction and the desire to recreate a new life cycle. Here we return to movement and to the growth of matter. Growing matter. – Text by Céline Malraux
Le corail, l'humus, le sous-bois, l'herbier sous-marin, le lichen, sont des formes de vie complexes basées sur des relations symbiotiques. Leur cycle vital est d'une richesse première, c'est-à-dire que leur suppression annule la possibilité de vie dans leur environnement. Il est difficile de recréer les conditions de leur restauration artificielle. Le travail de Camille de Galbert matérialise ces écosystèmes fondamentaux à travers un geste patient, répétitif, cumulatif. A l’autre bout de ce cycle se trouve le sédimentaire, la trace du processus de vie et de, sa dégradation comme dans ces spécimens carbonisés.
En changeant d'échelle, en s'intéressant à l'infiniment petit dans ces systèmes symbiotiques, on explore des zones cachées, des villosités, des recoins, l’artiste révèle la matière dans ce qu'elle a de plus mystérieux. Les peaux, Dermis, sont une interface entre le visible et l’invisible, et une magnification à la loupe ou une observation au microscope des œuvres Stratas.
Inspirée de l'art fractal, cette plongée à l'intérieur de la matière suggère que tout ce qui est fini peut contenir l'infini. Cette notion d'échelle est fascinante, car nous, être humains, faisons face à la finitude qui est le propre de notre condition, alors que l'espace qui nous entoure contient une infinité d'infinis. La nature est pleine de ces objets fractals capables d'auto réplication, d'une croissance sans fin qui nous sidère et renvoie aux limites de la pensée.
En tant que femme et artiste, la question du mouvement chez Camille de Galbert est centrale. De la danse, aux films, à l'œuvre en trompe-l'œil, qui en se mouvant dans l'œil du spectateur rejoint une forme d'art cinétique, le geste d'aller vers, d'aller dans est omniprésent, notamment dans les courbes de son travail et dans l'acte du coulage. Travaillant des matières ancestrales, la cire, la résine et les pigments en référence formelle à Lynda Benglis, l’artiste s’inscrit dans un rapport charnel à la matière où l’urgence du geste côtoie l’imprévisibilité du medium.
Le mouvement est aussi un principe de vie que l'on retrouve à la base de tout, c'est-à-dire au niveau de la cellule. L'œuvre "Oeufs" relève de la reproduction cellulaire, de la volonté de recréer un cycle de vie. On en revient au mouvement et à la croissance de la matière. Growing matter. - Texte de Céline Malraux
Biography
Born in 1982, Camille de Galbert is a French-American multidisciplinary artist based in New York. Her practice moves seamlessly between encaustic painting and sculpture, drawing and film. Whatever the medium she uses, this self-taught visual artist draws heavily upon movement and her past experience as a dancer.
Camille de Galbert’s work revels in form, volume and texture. She uses repetitive and accumulative mark-making as a way to explore the structures and shapes of organic matter. Using wax, latex or silicone some shapes evoke the sedimentation of time, some feel like smooth skins, others can seem like distorted bodies.
Camille de Galbert graduated from France’s Conservatoire of Grenoble and continued her contemporary dance studies in New York, at The Merce Cunningham Studio. Injuring her knee marked a twist of fate, as she turned her creative attention to filmmaking, sculpture and drawing.
She is an artist fellow at the Jerome Foundation (USA), her artwork has been exhibited at La Maison Rouge (Paris), me Collectors Room (Berlin), Cittadellarte-Fondazione Pistoletto (Biella, Italy). Her films were selected at over 50 festivals globally and won Best Short at the Miami Short Film Festival (2015), Blowup International Chicago and the Richmond International Film Festival (2016).
Exhibitions & Screenings
2023
GROWING MATTER solo show September 9 - October 14
The Invisible Dog Art Center and the French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) Crossing The Line Festival are thrilled to co-present Growing Matter, an exhibition by resident artist Camille de Galbert, inaugural exhibition of the Season 15th.
The exhibition has received the exceptional support of Galerie Krief - Paris
Growing Matter is part of The Armory Show 2023 cultural program
2022
Spring Break Art Show New York, group show Marguerite Wibaux
2019
ROSIE ROSE, (short film), Director / writer.
Official Selections:
Manchester International Film Festival, Richmond International Film Festival, Brooklyn Film Festival, Newport Beach Film Festival
2018
Artist Fellowship Jerome Fondation
Grant from NWIFT
MARGOT, (short film), Director / writer)
Official Selections:
Montreal Film Festival
2016
SIMON, (Short Film), Director / writer.
Awards:
Richmond International Film Festival (Grand Jury Prize, Best Short Film, 2016)
Miami Short Film Festival (Best Film and Best Experimental, 2015)
Chicago International Arthouse (Best Narrative Short and Jury Prize for Sound Design)
Malibu Film Festival (Best Experimental)
Humboldt International Film Festival (Best Experimental)
Santa Cruz Film Festival (Best Experimental Short)
Accolade Global Film Competition Awards (Award of Merit: Experimental)
The Best Shorts Competition (Award of Merit: Experimental)
Big Mini Media Festival (Best Experimental)
The Women Indie Fest (Best Experimental)
Official Selections
Orlando Film Festival, Sarasota Film Festival, HollyShorts Film Festival, Carmel International Film Festival, San Francisco International Festival of Short Films, Buffalo International Film Festival, Bushwick Film Festival, Catalina Film Festival, Middlebury new filmmakers festival, Warwick Summer Film Festival, New Filmmmakers NY, New Jersey Film Festival, Loft Cinema Film festival, Zero Film Festival, Underexposed Film Festival, Irvine Film festival, Cinema on the bayou film festival, The One Screen Film Festival, Fargo Film Festival, Greenpoint film festival, The portland Oregon women's film festival, New Hope Film Festival, New york City Independant Film Festival, Brooklyn Film Festival, Female Eye Film Festival, Woods Hole Film Festival, Manchester International Film Festival (UK), Bahamas International Film Festival (Bahamas), D’Motion Dance festival (Malaysia), Pineapple Underground Film Festival (China), Lisbon International Film Festival (Portugal), Grenoble Outdoor Short Film Festival (France)
2015
Oblique Strategies, Group Exhibition at The Invisible Dog, Brooklyn, NY
Auto Chemestry, Group Exhibition at The Hollows, Brooklyn, NY
Wonderland, Group Exhibition at the Invisible Dog, Brooklyn, NY
La main qui dessinait toute seule, Group Exhibition at Galerie Magda Danyzs, Paris France
2013
Regina, Director/Cinematographer/Editor: Experimental Video
KOO89, Director/Cinematographer/Editor: Experimental Video
2014
Hive, Group Exhibition at The Invisible Dog, Brooklyn, NY
Rosa, Director/Cinematographer/Editor: Experimental Video
2011
Alles Kannibalen, Group Exhibition at Me Collectors Room, Berlin, Germany
Tous cannibales, Group Exhibition, at La Maison Rouge, Paris, France
Dear AC, Director/Cinematographer/Editor: Experimental Video Musee de la Poste, Paris, France
2010
Unidee, Museum Talk, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Special Features, Group Exhibition, La Mama, New York, NY
2009
Camille de Galbert, Solo exhibition, Le Vog, Grenoble, France
Cittadellarte, Group Exhibition, Fondazione Pistoletto, Biella, Italy
Splav Meduze, Group Exhibition, Center for Contemporary Art, Celje, Slovenia. Curated by Marko Stamenkovic.
2008
New York, Music video, Director, music by Alain Klingler and Etienne Dos Santos
Polis 07 Magnetic Laboratorium, Performance and video exhibition, Whitney Museum, New York
2007
Le Danseur, film screening, Merce Cunningham Studio
One Day like Another, film screening, New Filmmaker Film Festival, New York
Lustra, film screening at New York University, Tisch, New York
La fille de l’Est, Music video, Director. Music by Alain Klingler
Vie secrete, Music video, Director. Music by Arthur H
Si tu savais, Music video, Director. Music by Xavier Boussiron
2006
Echo, multi-media performance, New York Live Arts, New York
Unrealized, dance performance, Dumbo Dance Festival, and Bushwick Art Festival, Brooklyn
Polis 07 Magnetic Laboratorium, Performance and video exhibition, Dance Theater Workshop, New York
2004
Element A-23, Video screening and performance, Merce Cunningham Studio, New York
BOOKS I, II, III, IV, V, Solo exhibition, Salon de Quartier, New York
2003
Five stones, Series of Dance Performances, Merce Cunningham Studio, New York
What’s now?, Dance Performance, Broadway Dance Center, New York
2001
Les Enluminures, Video dance work for Dominique Boivin, Le Cargo, Grenoble, France
Frida Kahlo, Dance and Theater Performance, “La Nuit du Theatre” Espace 600, Grenoble, France
2000
Un piano dans les Branches, Dance Performance with Vivianne Serry, L’Hexagone, Meylans, France
1999
Desert d’Amour, Dance Performance with Choreographer Dominique Bagouet, Grenoble Dance National Conservatory, France