By Your Side
Yves Scherer

As the artist delves into the celebrity world as vessel of collective identity, Untitled (Autumn) a new lenticular work emblematically depicting Vincent Cassel and Tina Kunakey echoes the title of the show taken from the famous romantic song by the English band Sade. The overlap of Cassel’s and Kunakey’s profiles hints at the colliding representations of the individual and the public-morphed persona, their relationship providing an idealised version of love and success which the viewer in the society of spectacle can only contemplate and aspire to emulate. 

Two sculptural works further emphasize Scherer’s interest on gender-based social structures being reformed by shifting paradigms of identity. A hyper-realistic painted aluminium sculpture of a young girl (Sitting Girl, 2020 ) in a tranquil, unruffled pose sits low on the ground, facing the viewer directly, while a plaster figure of a little boy attached to a tree chunk (Boy with tree, 2020 ) looks up at the sky revealing an expression of awe and enchantment. Pure in its white nakedness, the artist’s self portrait imbues the scene with a candid, innocent aura.  

Scherer’s own life experience, desires and projections typically translate into self-referential elements that he disseminates across the show. A wall cardboard piece with faux fur encased in a plexi frame holds out a bridging hand to the artist’s first show at Cassina Projects in New York. A recurring theme in his practice, this abstract composition featuring found objects embodies vivid recollections of significant places and experiences of the artist’s bygone days. The large-scale paintings on display evoke a serene, placid outdoor environment, the artist’s locus amenus where childhood memories, love, and longing coalesce.

Unveiling the artist’s universe, By Your Side is a joyful testimony to romantic ideals as Scherer braids together his life, their life and our life.