09/12/2026
In this group of paintings by Inés Fernández-Shaw, the body is never presented in its entirety. Instead, it appears through fragments, enlarged until it becomes almost landscape: a curve, a fold, a breast, an expanse of skin. The painted arches framing several of these compositions reinforce this sense of partial vision. They function simultaneously as windows, frames, and devices for looking, determining what we are allowed to see and, more importantly, what remains outside the image.
Within the group, certain motifs interrupt this fragmentation. A bouquet of flowers introduces the tradition of still life, while the lunar face becomes an observing presence. The blackbird occupies an even more enigmatic position. In Fernández-Shaw’s vocabulary, it symbolizes the part of consciousness to which we have no access, here perched directly upon the body, at the threshold between physical presence and interior life.
It is precisely through these shifts between figuration and abstraction, intimacy and distance, body and consciousness that Fernández-Shaw constructs her pictorial language. The female body is not simply represented or offered to the gaze. It becomes a pictorial territory that the artist fragments, reframes, and reclaims. Each painting reveals only a portion of it, compelling the viewer to mentally reconstruct what the image chooses to withhold.
📸 Jean-Michael Seminaro
Dans cet ensemble de peintures d’Inés Fernández-Shaw, le corps n’est jamais donné à voir dans son intégralité. Il apparaît par fragments, agrandi jusqu’à devenir presque paysage : une courbe, un pli, un sein, une étendue de peau. Les arches peintes qui encadrent plusieurs de ces compositions renforcent cette sensation de regard partiel. Elles fonctionnent à la fois comme fenêtres, cadres et dispositifs de vision, déterminant ce qui nous est permis de voir et, surtout, ce qui demeure hors champ.
Au sein de cet ensemble, certains motifs interrompent cette fragmentation. Un bouquet de fleurs introduit la tradition de la nature morte, tandis que le visage lunaire devient une présence observatrice. L’oiseau noir occupe une position plus énigmatique encore. Symbole, chez Fernández-Shaw, de cette part de
