D*Face

Dans cette exposition D*Face nous plonge dans son univers singulier au style unique, empreint de l’imagerie pop art et de la culture punk. Ce monument du street art nous invite à explorer l’éventail des sensations et des émotions inspirés du milieu du pilotage et de l’amour.

Le titre de l’exposition, Target Fixation, est tiré d’un phénomène dérivant du registre du pilotage et du sport automobile. Ce terme est utilisé lorsqu’une personne se concentre tellement sur un objet observé qu’elle augmente, inconsciemment, le risque de collision avec ce même objet.

À travers ses oeuvres, D*Face s’est inspiré du parallèle entre le frisson intense de la course automobile et le sentiment d’euphorie qui accompagne une nouvelle obsession romantique. Ces deux états psychiques engendrent, tous deux, une vulnérabilité susceptible de rendre les individus sensibles aux distractions ou aux pièges potentiels.

A l’instar de sa précédente exposition à la Galerie Itinerrance, D*Face a créé des oeuvres originales qui abordent avec subtilité la question de l’éphémère et de l’éternel. Target Fixation érige le personnage du pilote, féminin et masculin, en figure centrale de sa thématique de l’amour perdu.

« The term ‘Target Fixation’ refers to a common tendency in riders, drivers and pilots to overly focus on an obstacle, hazard or indeed their target, to the point that they end up colliding with the very thing that they were trying to avoid in the first place. I’ve been there, I’ve done it. It’s a bizarre mix of knowing that your focus is wrongly placed, but that you’re unable to shift it. Like a moth drawn to a light, you can’t help but stare at the very thing you’re trying to avoid. I’ve been there on motorbikes, I’ve been there in my personal life and it’s as if the more you try and dodge the inevitable outcome, the more you double down and focus harder on it.

To me, there’s something fascinating and deeply human about this phenomenon – letting yourself become so deeply preoccupied by a goal, achievement, or final outcome that you end up loosing sight of all surrounding consequence, to the point of potential self destruction. Remove the vehicle in the equation and it feels like the post pandemic version of target fixation is our relentless obsession with A. Ones self. B. Other peoples lives C. How we are perceived. Whether it be our pursuit of material possessions, relationships, or the idealized versions of ourselves projected through social media, anticipated success so often leads ironically to self destruction. Just take our fascination with trying to hold back time or worse, reverse it – plastic surgery, body dysmorphia, the 8th sin; self obsession.

When thinking about how to visually portray this term, little seemed more appropriate to me than motorsport, not only because it’s where the concept of ‘target fixation’ originated from but because it exemplifies that ‘winner takes all’ mentality that drives people to put themselves in dangerous situations, risking their lives in pursuit of glory, fame… notoriety.”

D*Face