BARDO

As part of the cycle of exhibitions “Je suis un animal“, dedicated to the passages and shifts between the animal worlds and the human worlds, the orangery of the Domaine de Chamarande will host an exhibition by Odonchimeg Davaadorj.

The artist invests the orangery of the Chamarande estate throughout the summer season to deploy a set of recent or even unpublished works. The artist develops a plural practice that often takes the form of devices mixing several materials and techniques, from drawing and painting, to video and performance, through sewing, embroidery and poetry. Drawing on his dual culture – Mongolian by birth, French by adoption – his works reshape a cosmology in which beings, whether human, animal and plant but also sometimes mineral, seem intrinsically linked to each other: taken in an organic whole, the figures intertwine, extend or sometimes entangle until hybridization.

The exhibition at the orangery brings together several series of drawings of very large formats as well as several dozen ceramics made by the artist for the occasion. The title of the exhibition “Bardo” refers to a concept in Tibetan Buddhism that means “interval” and designates an intermediate and transitory position between two states. If this notion refers more particularly to a series of drawings in very large formats in which are represented figures half-birds half-human (2021), it travels throughout his work, like the many small sculptures presented. For the artist, the bird symbolizes a form of freedom by its natural ability to fly, where man can only resort to technology. But the eponymous series also deals with the illusion of independence that is ours. The birds depicted are sparrows – a species particularly endangered in île-de-France – on whose stomachs appear human faces, therefore threatened with extinction: “I really believe that all the elements on this earth are linked to each other. I am sensitive to Buddhist thought: if I see a bird corpse on the street, I think it can affect my life in some way. And everything I do has a consequence on others.” The exhibition also brings together two other series of large-format drawings that deal with transformation: Hera (2021-2022), a set of butterflies with a human face, or the installation Black Swan (2021) which reactivates the narrative and dramatic power attached to the black swan.

Odonchimeg Davaadorj (1990, Darkhan) left Mongolia at only 17 years old for the Czech Republic, before moving to Paris in 2009, where she embarked on artistic studies. A graduate of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Art Paris-Cergy (ENSAPC), she has presented her work in group exhibitions (Salon de Montrouge,^63rd edition, 2018; Galerie Premier Regard, Paris, 2018 “Matters of Concern”, Hermès La Verrière, Brussels, 2019; “Even the rocks reach out to kiss you”, Transpalette, Bourges, 2021; “Animal Kingdom”, Âme Nue, Hamburg, 2021, “Dance and Ritual”, Centre National de la Danse, Pantin, 2021) and has benefited from solo shows, notably within the Backslash gallery (2019 and 2021). She is represented by Backslash Gallery (Paris) and Re.Riddle Gallery (San Francisco).