The artwork made by the canadian artist Sandra Chevrier is becoming more and more prominent on a world level. This artist’s exhibitions are shown all around the world under the name “Les Cages” and people are literally waiting in line outside the venue to actually see and experience the artwork.
People from all walks of life have been praising her artwork, some of them well known artists like Alicia Keys, The Real Swizz, her work has been featured in magazines and reviews from all over the world, tattoo artists apply her work on clients, she is an inspiration for graffiti, theme parties, photography sessions and many other artists and non-artists around the world. A worldwide success.
“Les Cages” is an extraordinary series of art pieces featuring female faces and bodies, with applied pieces of comic books/collage and paint, which seem like tattoos on them. They are so appealing to the viewer that one tries very hard to keep a distance and not touch the art.
The series is the woman’s struggle in today’s world. Being strangled by differences on the outside and the inside, trying to keep what is true and valuable, but constantly pushed, corrupted and robbed of the blessings of being a woman.
The message behind the artwork comes very clear and articulate. It can be viewed as a double reflexive mirror. Mirror reflecting the inside of the person and the outside, the world surrounding it. The world constantly on the look out for new fresh meet, new blessed soul to make its own mannequin and manufacture goods. The outside which is pervasive, penetrating, vulgar that tries to sell itself to the viewer, just like the media. Images, messages, logos, slogans, different characters and heroes that are aggressively pushed through the media and reflected on the face and the lifestyle of the consumer. Is the viewer just a contemplator, a bystander?
Much of what one sees, heroes saving the world or dying, very often one tries to imitate or translate that into one’s own life. That’s the message of the media. Go, do what we tell you to!
Another aspect of Chevrier’s work is that there are a lot of colors in her paintings, mostly owing to the applied pieces of comic books, that intertwine and make a more than interesting sheet over the skin of the painted faces and bodies.
The eyes of the females in the paintings are exceptional. Often times full of sadness, sometimes looking up towards new hope, optimistic, sometimes full of tears and hopelessness and sometimes closed, like saying “I don’t want any of this anymore. Not gonna take it”. And the mouth, the lips are never smiling. Oftentimes, that part of the faces is fully closed, bandaged by the comics, just like wearing a burka.
Chevrier is being very careful and picky in choosing the faces and bodies of the people featured in her artwork. They are actual real people, models or just fans who would like to share their images with her and become a piece of art under the hands of this talented painter and illustrator.
“The Cage is a battle without end” the artist says. “It’s a menace from the enemy”. It’s an exposition of what we carry inside, our limitations, the societies, different worlds full of limits, demands and absurdities.
This intelligent and beautiful woman recommends to “Ask yourself what is your Cage? And get rid of it”.
