Acrylic on stapled canvas, door, approx. 4 x7 m.

(Click to enlarge)

1999

La maitresse is a painting installation elaborated for Visite libre, an exhibition organised by Gueule de loup, a collective of 11 members including myself. It’s mandate was to self-generate exhibitions and develop a new approach toward artistic events. We worked on the theme of places and promoted site specific practices. Presented as a laboratory of ideas, Visite libre addressed the issue of housing as a living area: we reside in a house or a condo but we inhabit a territory. Even though in situ practice is exciting as a lived experience, I deplore that the works, like this one, are so difficult to document. One had to be there!

I used inverse perspective to penetrate into a painted trompe l’oeil dining room where we see members of a family enjoying a meal. With a detour on the meaning of Maîtresse (that can mean either mistress or master), the piece could address marital relations or our rapport with a domestic animal. Who is in control in a home, on a territory? Can we ever own ourselves? What if the cat was the real master of the place?