Olivier Christinat, Portraits et nus – Lyne Crevier, Dévisager

[Summer 2002]

This article was originally published only in French. You can read it by switching over to the French version of this page.

Abstract
Olivier Christinat’s spare mises en scène form the canvas for portraits or nudes of young women in a sort of intimate encounter between artist and model that seems to overstep the bounds of modesty – not so much the bounds of the nudity of the body but, sometimes, those of a face, displayed in its most minute details, a bit compromising. Although Biblical references abound in his approach, they nevertheless remain under the seal of an aesthetic of “Antiquity.” Distancing himself from a concern with simply providing pleasure, Christinat neutralizes eroticism through his ascetic gaze and his obsession with spareness.