The presence of the sitter is traceable through her very Portraits and, paradoxically, at the same time, escapes all lines.
One could also draw a pun with the French term “tracer” (delineate): the verb ‘tracer’ suggests both a line and a trace. Thus, Tabouret’s Portraits are traces of the life of her companions. In both fields, the presence of the being in front of us can never be fully delivered: neither phenomenology, nor painting can completely render the actual being through descriptions or depictions. Profound parallels can be drawn between the program of phenomenology and her specific approach to painting a portrait. Tabouret’s Portraits, echo some of the core problems addressed by Maurice Merleau-Ponty in his life-long travail, such as the task of displaying “the native bond between myself perceiving someone and the someone whom I perceive” – this precious, unique, and irreplaceable relationship between myself and the other. Indeed, a close analogy exists between Claire Tabouret’s present Portraits and the groundwork of Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology. In this latest group of works, Tabouret aptly and singularly addresses the other, in her/his radical otherness, and delivers her personal sense of each presence. The body of work marks a notable transition within her oeuvre: Moving away from her monumental groups representing figures largely unknown and unfamiliar, the current works currently on display at Almine Rech inject a dose of intimacy and familiarity, yet unseen in her work – for these paintings depict members belonging to the artist’s personal world. Claire Tabouret has been thoroughly engaged in such problematics in the creation of deeply personal portraits, over the past year or so. Indeed, central to the very mission of a successful portrait is a symmetrical two-way pendulum which takes us from life to image, and from image to life – and back again. Portraiture stems from the secular tradition of sketching or giving life to the image of someone else, and conversely, imbuing this image with life, capturing the unique inner and outer likeness of the individual or group.
Portraiture might be defined as the daunting task of rendering the presence of the other, with regard to both an internal and external likeness. To the world as living with one another in the world. We, each "I-the-person" and all of us together, belong “Living with One Another in the World”: Claire Tabouret’s Portraits
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