Philippe Cognée / Vanités joyeuses

Philippe Cognée was born in 1957 in Nantes, where his studio is currently located. His technique, which involves heating and then crushing wax, gives his paintings a sense of uncertainty, as if the image were losing its consistency and clarity. His entire practice focuses on the exhaustion of the image in the contemporary world, whether it be changes in the urban environment, the disappearance of a form of landscape, or, more generally, the human condition. His practice allows him to question not only our relationship to reality, but also the place of painting in the history of representation in a world in total upheaval. 

For this edition, in partnership with Connaissance des Arts, Philippe Cognée has produced 30 different original drawings on the theme of vanity and the erasure of the human. These 30 Vanités joyeuses (Joyful Vanities), created in ink and watercolor, are a series of reflections on the way in which vanities feed our imagination.