Tales for a clown, 2022
Marlène Charpentié creates fantastic universes tinged with a baroque aesthetic inspired by images from children’s stories. Her works – often in papier-mâché – are made from manufactured or modified objects. The artist thinks of her sculptures primarily as objects, carefully selecting their shapes and details, then their potential uses in her performances. Her naive and saturated worlds, when combined with her burlesque and clownish acting, create true tableaux vivants. Marlene’s work is both funny and touching, with a unique energy and excessive generosity.
(Extract from the text written by Sophie Conus)
© Isabelle Meister (portrait)
© Thomas Maisonnasse
Marlène Charpentié is a performance artist who graduated from HEAD’s Work-Master program in 2022 and from the École supérieure d’art et design de Saint-Étienne with a Bachelor’s degree in 2019. Her pieces are generally made from recycled materials that are morphed into costumes, sets, or absurd objects, resulting in a cabaret of the strange where grotesque characters come out to make faces and scowl. Her work generates a zone of subdued emotion: a burlesque nightmare disguised in laughter, where clowns show up to knock flower hats off. Here, nature becomes artifice, evoking the absurdity of everyday situations.
Instagram @douceetamer
Window display: courtesy of Zabriskie
Marlène Charpentié
to listen here