The imitation of another, the reconstruction of one’s life, these are widely used formulas in the practice of self-portraiture, and they profoundly transform the mind. One could imagine that every staged self-portrait is actually the portrait of someone else. As such, Marion Kalter has been reconstructing elements of a lost past.

Marion Kalter has been following two paths simultaneously, practicing two genres:  the portrait and the self-portrait, the documentary and the fictive autobiography (or auto-fiction).

Self-portraits are characterized by tension and harmony - the musical analogy is apt - between the anxiety of introspection, the pathos of confrontation with the self, and an exuberant playfulness of staging.  The artist spins a yarn, invents as much as she reveals truths, exposes herself as much as she disguises.  Kalter's self-portraits are both a genealogical exploration and reconstruction.  Through a play between imitation and the recreation of situations and domestic settings once lived, Kalter relocates the figures who marked her childhood and determined the course of her personal biography.  This work constitutes a personal mythology in pictorial form.

By appointment only,

please contact the Artist: +33675868170

www.marionkalter.com