Françoise Pétrovitch : de l'absence / Von der Abwesenheit

Exhibition at the Musée Jenisch, Vevey, 29 January - 25 May 2025

Françoise Pétrovitch (1964-) is a multidisciplinary artist who has established herself on the international scene with her impressive coloured ink washes featuring striking figures. Her art reveals ambiguous, often transgressive worlds that play with conventional boundaries and defy interpretation. Intimacy, fragments and disappearance, as well as themes such as the double, transition and cruelty, run through her works, which are peopled by animals, flowers and creatures, and whose atmosphere, alternately luminous and nocturnal, rarely leaves the viewer unmoved.

Based on the theme of absence, this exhibition catalogue presents recent works - drawings, prints and art videos - by Françoise Pétrovitch. Absence can be distressing, a tragedy. As a counterpart to presence, it is characterised by nostalgia and projection. It describes the passing of time, distance and lack. Painting itself is also characterised by absence: the artist, the model, the landscape or the past moment are not really present.