« Le médium lui-même n’est plus saisissable en tant que tel, et la confusion du médium et du message est la première grande formule de cette ère nouvelle. “

Studio 106 Art Gallery is delighted to announce the first solo exhibition of Maud Traon, Home Sweet Home.

Maud Traon’s work develops fantasy aethetcis, creating a confusion between fiction and reality. De facto, she challenges and transgresses widely acceptedideas in art. This show marks a significant shift between her crafts practice (Traon is an established jewellery maker) to Visual Art.

Maud Traon’s work has never fit comfortably in either contexts, whilst always leading her viewers to unexpected outcomes.

Finding our way through a dedalic language made ofan intense, almost suffocating, use ofcolours,  glitter, images, and ideas., and following details in this mountain of meaning and objects, is the only way to make sense of the work.

Traon’s viewers’ journey is literally about looking for a needle in a haystack, with the exciting possibility of actually finding a treasure.

The exuberant visual and conceptual language is an attempt to conceal what obsseses her, what attracts her, and allows her to be creative. Indeed, far from populist artists trying to give instant meaning with an instant coffee taste, she gives a new role to the viewer, compelling them to decipher her work. Surely ambiguous, the newly-made installations mixe popularreferences such as tourists glorifications – fake snow balls or magnets depicting monuments- along with philosophical and aesthetics theories, clearly referencing Virilio, Baudrillard and Deleuze… For instance, relating the “visual universe” of pizza Flyers to Renaissance Matthias Grunenwald’s Retable of Issenheim.

Through a poignant and colourful aesthetics of fairy tales, Traon narrates a storyof psychological anxieties and a need for immediate beauty consumption. Singular and universal, her rich visual and intellectual imaginary guides us through a personal and dazingjourney.

With Home Sweet Home, Traon finds her way back to childhood; at the same time,  she conveys an infatuation for bright colours, made up characters, objects and playful games. On the other hand, she expresses a sweet and naive need for bewilderment. Framed by a childish yet complex intellectual rigour, she asks and asks again: What does it mean, daddy?

Maud Traon lives and works in London. Traon’s work explores the relationship between the reality of the world we live in and the signs and symbols that actually represent it.

Unusual scales and overlapping references from both the worlds of crafts and Visual arts show her fascination about consumerism, mainstream and kitsch visual universes.

Home Sweet Home is part of Pivotal Shifts, a project supported by The Arts Council England, London.