Béatrice Dreux. Tierchen

(The following are excerpts from the above text, which can be read in full in: Exhibit. cat. "Tierchen v. Béatrice Dreux", Vienna 2023.)

In Béatrice Dreux's current universe, there is a wild flurry of activity, [...] it crawls, flutters and flies, it quacks and, above all, it pays homage: the animals depicted are not simple images of nature. Rather, they seem like bearers of archetypal powers. The use of diminutives such as 'Tierchen' [little creatures] initially creates the impression of harmlessness and cuteness that is often stereotypically used in reference to women or girls. However, Béatrice Dreux deliberately counters this idea by depicting the 'Tierchen', especially the spiders, as powerful queens, mother goddesses or even totem figures that have an energetic effect on the viewer. Just as creation is one of Béatrice Dreux's themes, so too is creation's cousin, transformation, moments of transition.

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There are white spiders on pale blue or bright pink backgrounds, as well as several black spiders on white or colourful backgrounds and a red spider, whose bright red colour makes one think of female carmine scale insects, which are used to obtain the same dye. In addition to the large formats, there are also less insect-like 'Tierchen'. Some of them seem to be in a phase of metamorphosis in which they combine characteristics of different animal species, like the one that has eight legs like its large-format sisters on the one hand and a beak like birds or indeed platypuses on the other.

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If there are full body portraits of the various little creatures - spiders and beaked animals - then there are also those depicted in 'portrait': Not Clearly Identifiable Flying Objects, Tierchen (Golden Minoan Insect), Tierchen (Minoan Princess) and Sunset Insect, which can only be perceived as flying objects if one is familiar with the wonderful work Mother and Daughter in Danger from 2021, in which two pale pink dragonfly-like insects with blue-violet wings take up the entire pictorial space and fly to the far right. The mother animal leads the way, under which danger, in the form of a flame, indicates the precarious nature of the situation. Closely followed by the daughter, which is still close to the larval stage.

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Tierchen (Golden Minoan Insect) and Tierchen (Minoan Princess) can be understood as a pair, as they take up the respective opposite position like Yin and Yang: The Golden Minoan Insect flies with its golden body on the already familiar sticky black background towards the left, the circular glimmering pink tongue or nose almost hitting the edge of the picture. And one feels the narrowness of this pictorial space, the concentration of this being.

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The counterpart Minoan Princess flies towards the space on the right with the same determination. It is cosmic-black and 'flies' on a golden background. Above the eye, a violet curled line runs off, reminiscent of a feeler. The strong contrast of gold and black creates a silhouette-like effect. The gold looks as if it has been cut out and glued on, which gives the paintings a certain ornamentation and is reminiscent of Byzantine icon painting. Another formal countermovement that makes the two 'Minoans' a beautiful pair is the orientation of the colourful Dreux drops: verticality and horizontality. In the case of the Golden Insect, they seem to fall, thus giving the whole painting an unmistakable heaviness. With the black Princess, on the other hand, the drops almost seem to turn out of their centre, heart, to then follow the same trajectory as the princess in the direction of flight.

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This leads us to the large black spiders that dominate this exhibition, all of which are animated in one form or another by a brightly coloured, energetic circle. All the spiders are placed in the pictorial space in such a way that they completely fill the format. They sit in their pictorial worlds, indeed, they own them. Many have eight legs, but not all. However, they all have this schematic pair of eyes, which in its rigidity looks almost a little condescending, if not otherworldly. It is interesting that the spiders in these paintings can be read in different ways in terms of perspective. On the one hand, they can be interpreted as horizontally standing creatures, each with a red crown on their head, which reinforces the aspect of majesty and authority. On the other hand, the spiders can be seen in a top-down perspective, which makes the crowns look like open mouths with pointed teeth that push against the edge of the picture.

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Painting is represented in all its variations in Dreux's work. She layers paint so that it soon sits impasto on the canvas; at the same time, she allows underlying layers of paint to shine through by glazing over them. The intuitive painting style is always in flux and develops its attitude and form in the process. Similar to her subjects, which are also in a constant state of change. Béatrice Dreuxʼ art on the one hand appears archaic, on the other hand it tips over into the childlike-playful; this oscillation of two opposite poles gives her work a timeless quality. She creates a mythological universe in which feminine, animal and mineral aspects of nature are interwoven. In her exploration of the medium of painting in so many different facets, Dreux creates a multi-layered and expressive visual language that continually opens up new perspectives on her themes.

"Béatrice Dreux. Tierchen", 7 June - 14 July 2023