Benoit Maire

Benoît Maire is often described as a “visual philosopher”: his paintings, sculptures, films and installations draw on philosophy, geometry, mythology and sociology, among others. In a way, his practice is neither art, nor philosophy, but the ecstatic merge of the two. For instance, Maire is interested in French philosopher Jean-François Lyotard's concept of Differend which is dedicated to the conflict between the processes of saying and seeing. Maire works appear as layered puzzles of meaning which strive to exist outside language, expressed through pure visual forms. His surreal figurative paintings depict signs, such as clouds, horses, windows, lending one to form one’s own visual vocabulary. In his video works, Maire is upholding the tradition of French cinema, seen in filmographies of Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, or Agnès Varda. His pastel aesthetics is reminiest of avant-garde film, with theoretical underlyings landing close to Conceptual art. While staying true to the past, Maire’s work is radically intellectual in the present.