Trained as a blacksmith, Caroline Achaintre draws her sources from worlds as eclectic as those of German expressionism, post-war British sculpture, commedia dell’arte, primitive arts, postmodern design and urban cultures (goth or metal music, B movies, science fiction). In her work, the artist uses traditional techniques – tufting, ceramics, basketry – to breathe life into the drawings from which all his works originate. Caroline Achaintre’s practice is marked by a constant back and forth between the second and third dimensions, operating fluidly in a relationship to time, sometimes long, sometimes short. At Le Capc, the artist conceived and designed all the constituent elements herself (pedestals, buttresses, architectural excrescences) of an environment in which large “tapestries” in coloured wool interact with wicker screens, watercolours and ceramics – all works with anthropomorphic qualities and, as a result, characters of a particular theatre.

Vue de l’exposition/Installation Trois millions de Joconde Art: Concept, Paris, 2000