PostedMay 27, 2022, 7:17 p.m.
The museum of optical art is strong with a double exhibition as disturbing as the other.
The exhibition open on Saturday and Sunday is called “Dismaland”.
lematin.ch/Sébastien Anex
Poetry is at the rendezvous at Popa, in the old town of Porrentruy
lematin.ch/Sébastien Anex
The hugely popular “Love IS in the Air (Flore Thrower)” made artist Banksy a phenomenon. In Porrentruy, thirty pieces of cardboard under glass constitute an exhibition decorated with black, white and gray motifs. And what motives!
Banksy’s images are painted with stencils, like this man throwing flowers, initially tagged in Jerusalem in 2003. “These works come from a private collection, and it is impossible to formally attribute them to Banksy…”, recognizes Pierre Kohler, initiator of the museum of optical art Popa.
The exhibition is titled “Dismaland Works – Banksy or not Banksy?”. The works come from Dismaland, an amusement park designed by the artist in 2015 in England. “The Bruntrutaine exhibition was not authorized by Banksy: his work is intended for the street”, indicate the designers of the exhibition.
Strong symbols
The Popa wants to invite the visitor to immerse themselves in the universe of the star of street art “through strong and significant symbols of his work”. The museum says it has decided to introduce street artist Banksy through a series of works scattered in 2015 at Dismaland, a “more than bizarre” amusement park. Dismaland is a portmanteau of dismal (gloomy) and land (territory).
This park has been billed as a “sinister version of Disneyland.” Banksy himself described it as “a family theme park unsuitable for children”.
five francs
From August 22 to September 27, 2015 access to the park was during the day or in the evening. The price of the entrance ticket to the park was three pounds sterling, or just under five francs. With several thousand visitors per day, the park brought in more than thirty million Swiss francs.
The “Dismaland” consisted of various paid attractions in addition to the entrance. Banksy hijacked the attractions known to the general public: the ducks were sticky with fuel oil and the carousel of wooden horses fell prey to a serial killer, who slaughtered his foals to make lasagna.
We found in the same state of mind a game allowing piloting on a body of water small boats filled to the brim with migrants that we never managed to disembark. Reception staff were on a mission to be cold and distant.
The greatest mystery reigns as to the provenance of the works presented in Porrentruy. There is no ‘Pest Control’ certificate as with other works by Banksy. The works presented were not created to be sold: they are not for sale.
“You have to take your time, find your angle, your distance…”, explains Youri Messen-Jaschin.
lematin.ch/Sébastien Anex
The geometric information is so numerous that the brain is deceived.
lematin.ch/Sébastien Anex
The photographer from matin.ch almost wavered in front of a 3D work.
lematin.ch/Sébastien Anex
At the same time, the Lausanne artist Youri Messen-Jaschin unveils his works and optical illusions. Visitors are called upon to test their brains. Through many oils, serigraphs and weavings, “you have to take your time, find your angle, your distance… and colors appear”, according to the advice of the artist.
“Sometimes it looks like the squares are 3D,” says Youri Messen-Jaschin, who has wielded brushes and math for more than sixty years. “The geometric information is so numerous that the brain is deceived, it invents colors or movements,” he explains.
If he is wrong by two or three millimeters, the artist loses the optical illusion. For half a century, dizziness, palpitations and migraines have affected its visitors, even pain in the solar plexus… Youri Messen-Jaschin already exhibited his works at Popa four years ago.
“What does not exist”
His art is meticulous, mathematical and geometric. The slightest approximation in a spacing or a thickness can break an effect. “Here a color, there a form: the brain sees in my paintings what does not exist”, summed up the Lausanne artist.
The line is laid freehand, without ruler or compass, sometimes with three bristles on his brush, so that a painting can take two years. Convex or concave, inside or outside: each brain has its own vision. Too many lines and the brain saturates: it adds non-existent elements…
