2019
The speculatory workshop
Polyptych bringing together 5 distinct pieces, thought together and in relation to the place of presentation.
Some were supported by analytical texts made available, among ten editions and other complementary works to the whole.
Presented in the then drawing workshop, at the Beaux-arts in Paris, June 18, 2019.
Presentation views
Page dedicated in the catalog of graduates of the session, with a critical text by Camille Paulhan :
Above all, do not trust the images of Paul Rezakhanlou : they literally act as decoys, and seek to hook us and confuse us. His diploma polyptych, The speculative workshop, is presented as an immense fresco mixing photographs, retouching, 3D imagery and mysterious grisailles. Despite their unified appearance, polished or even - if one could use the term to evoke images - glabrous, these appear to have multiple drawers. Paul Rezakhanlou took on a difficult task :
propose a reflection on what it could mean to be an artist today and what link to maintain in front of his representations. One of his self-portraits, which uses Bonjour Monsieur Courbet, replaced the figure of the patron with a state-of-the-art telephone ; in another, he shows himself caring for himself, like a contemporary Saint Irene. Its characters have this singularity that they refuse to offer themselves directly to us : with their backs, eyes lowered or asleep, they constantly shy away, refusing a certain complaisant relation to contemplation.
The dunes, the most mineral work of the series, perhaps gives some keys to understanding Paul Rezakhanlou's enigmatic metaphors : the Norman panorama seen from a vast bay window seems at first glance perfectly harmless, of Olympian calm. But everything here is only a mirage, a bait made up of mergers of existing landscapes, in order to bring us to the eye of the image's cyclone, made up of the only open window. There, no foam, no reassuring waves or clouds. But a black mirror, allegory of an atrabilar mental space, where even the wind no longer seems to penetrate.
