Carousel Fine Art
Caroline Dechamby Summer 22
Jean-Baptiste Launay Japan Condo Mona
About the Artist
Artist, designer, entrepreneur. Throughout her career spanning over three decades, Caroline Dechamby has used art and history as a source of appropriation through which to develop her own niche, and place of resonance for her audience, within the largely male-dominated canon of painting.
Dechamby’s paintings re-asses masterpieces by household names — among them Pablo Picasso, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Piet Mondrian, as her own, painting herself (either full-bodied or as silhouette) into the pieces in the act of creation. In doing so, Dechamby symbolically and visually takes back the field from “the boys” reimagining art history in her own vision, and allowing for viewers, especially female viewers, to envision themselves too in the empowered position of creative genius in place of the artist’s painted avatar.
Repeatedly depicting her own figure from behind, Dechamby creates from her likeness both a recognisable autobiographical character, as well as an anonymous silhouette that allows for an immediate recognition and connection by viewers. Even by the very act of appropriating these works does Dechamby echo the trends of art history – her work, in a populist spirit, follows directly in the footsteps of artist like Marcel Duchamp, or more recently Elaine Sturtevant. As a woman, her outright placement of herself as an artist in the same league of famous predecessors she appropriates offers a powerful feminist statement, one that is intended outside the hallowed halls of museums and the institutionalised art world.
Jean-Baptiste Launay, better known as Jisbar, is a French pop-street artist, he lives and works between Paris and Amsterdam.
Jisbar is famous worldwide for being the first ever artist to reinterpret classical art masterpiece figures such as Mona Lisa, Frida Kahlo and others from Klimt and Warhol with his personal style of pop and street art. This striking blend of influences shaped a clear and unique identity that inspires a lot of artists and brands across the world today. Each artwork surpasses the idea of a simple remake as it is enriched with words, slogans, numbers and codes that help create a new story to decrypt. It challenges every person who looks at it to find their own clues by focusing on every single detail. The abundant signs generate new angles inside which the spectator finds new elements and interpretations every time they look at the painting.
From San Francisco to the Gold Coast, from Bangkok, Venice or Paris to London, Jisbar’s work is shown in many galleries all over the world, and well-known museums such as the Manarat Al Saadiyat in Abu Dhabi or the National Museum for the History of Immigration in Paris.
In the Parisian museum, Jisbar introduced his piece “Love is a New Fame” to the then President of France François Hollande during an art exhibition condemning racism and antisemitism.
Jisbar is also known for his various collaborations with renowned brands such as BMW, Armani or JM Weston, and he has contributed to create unique experiences on every one of these occasions. Among all of these memorable events, he organized an exhibition with JM Weston on the Champs Élysées. Jisbar put an exciting new spin on the brand’s identity by incorporating his art inside the flagship store and customizing several of their famous shoes to turn them into true art pieces.
He worked closely with the Italian brand and donated his piece “Ducati Mona Lisa” at a charity auction to raise 170.000€ for the Sant’Orsola Polyclinic hospital in Bologna.
His last performance paid tribute to Leonardo da Vinci on the 500th anniversary of his death. Jisbar sent a new version of his reinterpreted Mona Lisa to fly into space. The painting hovered 33.4 km above Earth for over an hour and a half. On this occasion he became the first ever artist to achieve this performance. His technical exploit was widely applauded though international media coverage.
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