Catherine Gran
Monstre rose, 2015
Oil on canvas
97 x 195 cm
Copyright The Artist
Catherine Gran Monstre rose Oil on canvas 97 × 195 cm In Monstre rose, Catherine Gran uses the panoramic format to unfold a scene of suspended movement. A monumental creature...
Catherine Gran
Monstre rose
Oil on canvas
97 × 195 cm
In Monstre rose, Catherine Gran uses the panoramic format to unfold a scene of suspended movement. A monumental creature enters from the right, its body partly concealed by a grey, cushion-like mass, while a profusion of pink, branching forms spreads across the upper edge of the canvas. The composition extends beyond the frame, suggesting that the visible monster belongs to a larger organism whose limits remain inaccessible.
The creature’s anatomy combines inflated limbs, loops, hooks and pearl-like spheres. Seams and folds give these improbable forms the tactile appearance of stitched fabric or modelling balloons. Gran’s precise handling of light and volume lends material credibility to this fictional body, while the delicate palette of pink, orange, blue and beige softens its strangeness. Below, a landscape of open boxes introduces a familiar human scale and situates the encounter within a transitional space of storage, displacement and discovery.
Within Les Monstres tendres, the work develops an image of monstrosity grounded in vulnerability and curiosity. The creature appears too large for its surroundings, yet its precarious posture and elaborate, almost decorative anatomy undermine any impression of threat. Gran invites the viewer to observe it as an individual presence, endowed with its own gestures and temperament. The painting becomes a portrait of radical otherness approached through attention, humour and tenderness.
Monstre rose
Oil on canvas
97 × 195 cm
In Monstre rose, Catherine Gran uses the panoramic format to unfold a scene of suspended movement. A monumental creature enters from the right, its body partly concealed by a grey, cushion-like mass, while a profusion of pink, branching forms spreads across the upper edge of the canvas. The composition extends beyond the frame, suggesting that the visible monster belongs to a larger organism whose limits remain inaccessible.
The creature’s anatomy combines inflated limbs, loops, hooks and pearl-like spheres. Seams and folds give these improbable forms the tactile appearance of stitched fabric or modelling balloons. Gran’s precise handling of light and volume lends material credibility to this fictional body, while the delicate palette of pink, orange, blue and beige softens its strangeness. Below, a landscape of open boxes introduces a familiar human scale and situates the encounter within a transitional space of storage, displacement and discovery.
Within Les Monstres tendres, the work develops an image of monstrosity grounded in vulnerability and curiosity. The creature appears too large for its surroundings, yet its precarious posture and elaborate, almost decorative anatomy undermine any impression of threat. Gran invites the viewer to observe it as an individual presence, endowed with its own gestures and temperament. The painting becomes a portrait of radical otherness approached through attention, humour and tenderness.