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JULIEN LANGENDORFF

ANTHONY VACCARELLO INVITES JULIEN LANGENDORFF.

A SKELETON HAND CASTS A COMET ACROSS THE STARS. A WOMAN SINKS INTO THE SHADOWS, HER BODY ENTANGLED IN OWL WINGS. ANOTHER MERGES WITH THE SUN, WHICH SHE SHELTERS BENEATH HER CLOAK.
A GROUP OF ADOLESCENT GIRLS STANDS IN LINE BEFORE THE ABYSS. DRAWING ON DARK ROMANTICISM AND GOTHIC SENSIBILITY, JULIEN LANGENDORFF'S COLLAGES ARE LIKE VISUAL POEMS COMPOSED USING FRAGMENTS RIPPED FROM THE PAGES OF VINTAGE EROTIC AND OCCULT REVIEWS, BOOKS ON ASTRONOMY AND NATURAL HISTORY OR TEEN MAGAZINES. JUXTAPOSED OR JUMBLED TOGETHER, TORN OR CUT, CRUMPLED, BURNT, ACCENTUATED WITH SPRAY PAINT AND GLITTER, THESE PSYCHIC CORRESPONDENCES, WHICH OSCILLATE BETWEEN SOMBRE MINIMALISM AND SURREALISM TINGED WITH PSYCHEDELIC SATANISM, CONJURE DREAMLIKE LANDSCAPES HAUNTED BY THE SPECTRES OF THE 1960S/1970S COUNTERCULTURE. THE FEMALE FORM IS BOTH THE RECEPTACLE AND THE DIRECTOR OF THESE ENIGMATIC VISIONS: PRE-RAPHAELITE GODDESS IN AN ECSTATIC POSE, MELANCHOLY SORCERESS OR HEROINE OF A CRUEL TALE, THE WOMAN BECOMES A COSMIC FORCE WHOSE BODY MINGLES WITH THE PLANETS AND THE ELEMENTS, PASSING THROUGH THE MIRROR TO INHABIT AN IMAGINARY REALM PEOPLED WITH KNIVES AND CHAINS, STATUES AND ECLIPSES, HAUNTED FORESTS AND ROCK SYMBOLISM.

JULIEN LANGENDORFF LIVES AND WORKS IN PARIS.

ALL IMAGES ©JULIEN LANGENDORFF
CURATED BY ANTHONY VACCARELLO