In the exhibition “Intertwined Memories(Interlaced Memories), Elladj Lincy Deloumeaux presents her company with an array of new paintings and works on paper featuring the friends and family of the Guadeloupean artist, as well as other artists and photographers including Eva Diallo and Ange-Frédéric Koffi. Produced during a residency in Senegal and the Ivory Coast, Deloumeaux’s canvases are bathed in light, with tones that change with the geography. Domestic scenes in Dakar are awash in sandy yellow, while a tranquil blue falls over a young man tending a garden in summer in France.
Deloumeaux does not provide the names of its models, hiding their identities from unaware viewers. The result, however, is not alienation. His subjects, often captured in unguarded and tender moments, retain a sense of friendship. It’s like we’ve been let into an intimate moment, and we don’t want to look away. Weaving memory with imagination, the artist acts as a connecting conduit. An afternoon on the terrace And An afternoon on the terrace 2 (An Afternoon on the Terrace and An Afternoon on the Terrace 2, All Works 2023) both feature figures seated on a bougainvillea-laced balcony. The works are presented side by side in the gallery, as if the subjects were facing each other around a table. In reality, the two individuals have never met.
In contrast, Deloumeaux’s works on paper are more sparse in color (his palette condenses to a near gray scale, with hints of blue in the highlights) and does not bother with staging. Although understated in comparison to his paintings, these portraits nonetheless bring the individual to the fore in expressive, expressive detail.
