What else to paint but the enigma of the gaze? Entering the paintings of Frédéric Léglise and Aziya is like stepping into a film. Here, fatal women languish with a scent of allure and defiance. The framing is tight as if the face becomes the canvas itself, with a focus almost exclusively on the eyes.


The desire is to get as close as possible to the subject, to their face, their presence, and to fully immerse us in the figure. In Léglise’s work, the framing tightens further; the close-up is not enough. He needs to go beyond, to zoom in until the painting itself becomes the model. The portrait shatters, repeats, and reproduces itself in a variation of angles, as the painter immerses himself in a myriad of fragments; Léglise creates his own cinema. "An artwork is only completed by what first breaks it, turning it into a fragmented work, a piece of the real world, the debris of a symbol." — Walter Benjamin

Frédéric Léglise was born in Nantes in 1972. He lives and works in Paris and has been teaching at ESAD-GV since 2007. He studied at ENSBA in Paris. His work is almost entirely focused on exploring the art of portraiture, particularly the portrait of women. Léglise has participated in numerous exhibitions in France and abroad, in museums and galleries, as well as art fairs like FIAC and Art Basel. His work is included in several public collections (Frissiras Museum, Athens; MMSU, Rijeka; La Maison Rouge, Paris; ESKFF Foundation, USA…).

Aziya is an artist based in Prague. Born into a family of artists in Kazakhstan, she grew up between the theater, where her mother performed, and her father's sculpture studio. This early immersion in an artistic environment shaped her worldview and laid the foundation for her creativity and self-expression. Aziya has lived in Europe, the United States, and the United Kingdom, and she is now permanently based in Prague.

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