Les jours d'après

While Isabelle Vaillant is renowned for her photographic work, it's her drawings that caught my eye. There's a sense of urgency, a need to put things down. In ink or pencil, she shows a direct, unfiltered intimacy. Vaillant is an artist who forms herself, more by impulse than theory. Her work is instinctive, driven by an expression free of academicism. She draws without apprehension. Her relationship with creation is direct and frontal. She tackles childhood, sexuality and death without detour or hierarchy. The body takes center stage: often naked, extended by oversized arms that wrap around itself or other figures. Arms, eyes and bodies seek each other out and connect. His figures, sometimes tinged with animality, evolve in a universe traversed by fears and images of childhood nightmares, which seem to constitute the sensitive framework of his work. These drawings reflect her desire to stay as close to the living as possible. There's tension, but also tenderness. She walks a tightrope between strength and fragility, with an energy that doesn't seek to embellish, but to deliver.