Marie Carlier
SEPTEMBER 5th - SEPTEMBER 12th 2025
BRASSERIE ATLAS
Texte français
Joseph Dofny, a Master student of arts, finds Marie Carlier’s drawings among the street trash. He decides then to present them as his master’s thesis. It could have all gone wrong, or just nowhere.
It’s not uncommon to find interesting objects on the streets of Brussels, or on the Jeu de Balle market. Some of them make it into exhibitions, as a curiosity, an exotic, maybe disgusting element, perhaps as an attempt to point at the issues of “authorship”, or “originality”, yet another time, with or without success.
Marie Carlier, the lucky lady, escaped the sad scenario of a brief second life as a “bizzarrerie” taken out of context. Her drawings are exhibited in a studious, elegant way, supported by the added documents that help to experience the work of the artist from another era.
We do have an option to perceive Marie Carlier as a bit of an alien, if we like. It is actually tempting to do so: something about the perfection of the egg-shaped contour of her face coinciding so weirdly with her fascination with the notion of an egg. Or that persistent genitality of the motifs of her drawings, that she claims to appear ONLY once the superficial levels of consciousness are surpassed…The position of Joseph Dofny is more mature than that of commenting on any of those specifics, there is no place for the self-expressive irony I might have just exhibited. He maintains a well-mannered distance and lets the phenomena of Marie Carlier unravel all by itself.
Following the example, I shall not dwell on my personal impressions. Besides, the time is against me since the mere purpose of the text is to invite you to come and see the exhibition before it is closed. You will learn more from the introduction text of the exhibition, so well written by Joseph Dofny himself.
What else to possibly add: Marie Carlier has temporarily landed on the welcoming grounds of the planet Atlas, and will remain there until the 12th of September.
Visits by appointment at the following email address: joseph.dofny@hotmail.fr
Polina Akhmetzyanova