inscription
SAADÉ - BARRAULT

SAADÉ – BARRAULT

Galerie Anne Barrault, 51 rue des Archives, 75003 Paris, Tel : 00 33 (0) 951700243
October 17 - November 21 2015
www.galerieannebarrault.com

STÉPHANIE SAADÉ

Anne 

Barrault 

gallery 

is 

pleased 

to 

propose 

Stéphanie 

Saadé’s 

first 

solo 

show 

in 

France.

Stéphanie 

Saadé 

was 

born 

in 

Lebanon, 

in 

the 

midst 

of 

the 

civil 

war. 

Today, 

she 

occupies 

a 

place 

on 

the 

new 

contemporary 

 Lebanese 

 art 

 scene. 

 Her 

 works 

 are 

 rich 

 of 

 her 

 travels 

 and 

 her 

 stays 

 in 

 Lebanon 

 as 

 well 

 as 

 in 

 China, 

 in 

 France 

 and 

 the 

 Netherlands.

The 

strength 

of 

her 

work 

lies 

in 

it 

being 

both 

conceptual 

and 

sensitive. 

This 

is 

partly 

due 

to 

her 

use 

of 

reduced 

means 

 which 

benefits 

richness 

of 

meaning.
Impossible 

love, 

made 

of 

two 

threads, 

one 

rising 

from 

the 

ground, 

the 

other 

coming 

down 

from 

the 

ceiling, 

and 

joining 

 in 

their 

centre, 

forms 

a 

minimal 

installation. 

Apart 

from 

the 

means 

used, 

what 

is 

emphasized 

is 

the 

perception 

of 

the 

 meeting 

of 

what 

rises 

from 

the 

ground 

and 

what 

comes 

down 

from 

above, 

a 

rare 

and 

difficult 

encounter 

made 

possible 

 by the artist.

With 

Golden 

Memories, 

another 

impossible 

encounter 

takes 

place 

where 

the 

past 

becomes 

the 

mirror 

of 

the 

present. 

The 

 memory, 

turned 

to 

gold, 

absorbs 

the 

present 

in 

a 

disturbing 

way. 

The 

immutable 

and 

the 

transitory 

encounter 

in 

Opposite 

 Chain, 

where 

iron 

destined 

to 

disappear 

and 

stainless 

steel 

form 

the 

same 

chain.

This 

tension 

runs 

throughout 

Stéphanie 

Saadé’s 

work. 

She 

has 

thus 

entitled 

her 

exhibition 

En 

Dormance 

(in 

dormancy), 

 this 

particular 

state 

where 

life 

awaits 

to 

begin.

EN DORMANCE 

«…will, 

then, 

matter 

be 

destroyed 

or 

not?» The 

gospel 

of 

Mary 

Magdalene

Seeds 

sprout 

in 

the 

dark, 

the 

dark 

corresponds 

to 

the 

night, 

and 

the 

night 

to 

dreams.

Instead 

of 

selling 

his 

cow 

for 

ten 

silver 

coins, 

Jack 

exchanged 

it 

for 

a 

bean. 

The 

next 

morning, 

like 

in 

a 

dream, 

while 

 Jacques 

was 

asleep, 

the 

bean 

had 

grown 

and 

reached 

the 

sky. 

In 

yesteryears, 

a 

diamond 

was 

exchanged 

for 

a 

carob 

seed: 

 with 

a 

weight 

and 

a 

size 

unfailingly 

regular, 

the 

seed 

was 

equivalent 

to 

one 

carat. 

Dormancy. 

To 

sleep, 

lying 

down. 

Buried 

 like 

the 

dead, 

whose 

feet 

and 

head 

touch 

the 

ground, 

under 

the 

earth, 

the 

seed 

slowly 

traces 

the 

path 

from 

the 

Horizontal 

 Country 

 to 

 the 

 Vertical 

 Country. 

 “[Jacob] 

 had 

 a 

 dream 

 in 

 which 

 he 

 saw 

 a 

 stairway 

 resting 

 on 

 the 

 earth, 

 with 

 its 

 top 

 reaching to heaven”.

Dormancy 

indicates 

a 

form 

of 

slowed-down 

life. 

Activity 

is 

reduced 

to 

the 

minimum, 

and 

the 

organism 

can 

keep 

its 

 energy 

longer. 

Moving 

into 

dormancy 

occurs 

in 

response 

to 

difficult 

or 

hostile 

external 

conditions: 

the 

diminution 

of 

 food 

resources, 

very 

high 

or 

very 

low 

temperatures 

etc. 

A 

survival 

strategy, 

a 

discreet 

and 

silent 

tactic, 

it 

enables 

one 

to 

 resist. Playing dead, sometimes for years. What happens in the inside? The 

dormant 

draws 

on 

his 

own 

resources. 

What 

can 

be 

produced 

in 

these 

conditions?

In 

dormancy, 

time 

flows 

differently. 

It 

runs 

more 

slowly 

inside 

than 

outside. 

Which 

moment 

to 

prolong? 

Which 

memory? 

 The 

moment 

before 

being 

born, 

before 

starting 

to 

grow 

up, 

can 

be 

extended, 

maybe 

forever. 

One 

can 

remain 

longer 

in 

a 

 chosen past, or extract oneself from time to become immortal.

In 

the 

confined 

space 

of 

the 

seed, 

introspection 

and 

recentering 

occur. 

How 

to 

stand 

in 

the 

centre 

of 

the 

world 

and 

wear 

 the 

world 

around 

oneself? 

“The 

universe 

is 

an 

infinite 

sphere 

whose 

centre 

is 

everywhere, 

and 

whose 

circumference 

is 

 nowhere”, 

as 

has 

been 

stated 

since 

antiquity 

to 

nowadays. 

At 

the 

centre 

of 

paradise 

springs 

the 

Fountain 

of 

Youth. 

From 

 it, 

four 

rivers 

flow 

towards 

the 

four 

cardinal 

points.

After 

dormancy, 

water 

flows 

on 

the 

seed 

and 

wakes 

it 

up. 

Autumn, 

winter, 

spring, 

summer, 

the 

seed 

takes 

the 

risk 

of 

 dying, and joins again the cycles of the day, the night, and the moon.

Stéphanie Saadé, July 2015

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