Mickaël DOUCET
INNER ROOM WITH A VIEW

group EXHIBITION

February.28 - JUNE.30.2021

Mickaël Doucet is known for his paintings that depict interiors inspired by the remarkable villas and minimalist architecture, featuring striking contemporary furniture. The scale of his canvas, immersive construction of the space through unique angles and touches of colour, adroitly disseminate over the composition allowing the observers to explore the environment on display. In Doucet’s paintings, there’s an absence of inhabitants with only a detail or an object that alludes to their presence whether a book, pen or glasses. As the environments are completely deserted, this vacancy allows the viewers to immerse themselves in his intimate settings at their own leisure. 

The artist features reoccurring geometric patterns and shapes which contrast via a schism of organic elements. The distinct nature of linear lines are softened by shadows that subtly hem on key features within the composition. Like Baudelaire’s poem in Invitation to Journey “There, there is nothing else but grace and measure, richness, quietness, and pleasure.” Nothing seems to disturb the tranquility of these places depicted in Doucet’s paintings.

Each interior teems with symbolic elements as the books act as a reference to literature, and the tribal sculpture as an invitation to reconsider our cultural heritage. The antique horse figurine standing on the coffee table in Les Soirs Bleus d’Eté, is not only a decorative item, but also an idol and a testimony of an extinct culture. Doucet reminds us of the vacuity of human behaviour. His interiors, as in Vanitas, offer a view of what Man was able to create in the past but also, through the window and the possibilities of the future. The artist invites the viewer into a meditative contemplation, to ask oneself about deeper metaphysical matters. Doucet is creating an “Heterotopias” to take the neologism created by Foucault (in 1967 in his conference “Of Other Spaces''). Another unique and particular space, still connected with the other (unlike Utopia) and here providing a shelter, a sanctuary and an idyllic place for reflection.

“There, there is nothing else but grace and measure,
richness, quietness, and pleasure.”

- Charles Baudelaire, Invitation to Journey

Baudelaire's quote intentionally evokes the image of a painting by Matisse Luxe titled Calme et Volupté (1904, Orsay Museum-Paris) which depicts bathers on a beach. Matisse's influence is perceptible in Doucet’s work in terms of his colour choices and in certain strokes as well as within the motif of the window which is found iteratively in both artists’ paintings. This element, in Doucet's interiors, generally takes on the appearance of a large bay window, allowing our gaze to escape from it’s first observation. Thus, the viewer can imagine their own narrative within the depicted interior. This exposed environment is often devoid of figurative elements, providing a blank page that remains to be written. These transitional elements invite the viewer to explore new perspectives both spatially, figuratively and pictorially within the compositions.

What does it mean to be a painter in the 21st century? What can be created that has not already been executed or is not just another disruptive concept? Doucet found a unique approach in the practice of his art, and his reflections are underpInned by a masterful technique with the qualities of a true colourist.