Camille Soulat’s Suburbcel is the feeling of life happening elsewhere, about rurality, childhood, avatars, escapism, nepotism, and fantasy. The title of Soulat’s solo exhibition with Ballon Rouge, is an invented term which corresponds to the contraction of the term “Suburb” and the word “Incel;” the word implies a hatred of coming from the suburbs, from the province, from housing estates – far from where everything seems to be happening. It echoes greediness and exclusion. “In between states where nothing happens” (2023) is a small bench; it’s an in-between state where you wait for an upcoming change, a bus, a date, as hours pass. It’s a metaphor, a land of hope and boredom, of waiting. On the back of the bench, a lenticular print shows eyes that morph into a Skyline view. On the wall beside it is a print on aluminum titled “Subdivision, vision continues to divide” (2023). The windows of the subdivision lot shine bright when the sun goes down. Clothes and accessories become shiny artifacts, vindictive slogans on a bright color shirt, jeans, a New York view imprinted in jersey fabric caught in shiny plastic resin.
The French self-taught artist uses mediums ranging from digital painting and writing, to video installation. Her practice revolves around an intimate form of narration. Interested in notions such as marginality, geek culture and adolescence, Soulat directs her practice around an interpretation and a celebration of the codes associated with both pop culture and counterculture.Suburbcel is on view at Ballon Rouge, Brussels until April 29th.
Some dreams are illegal, 2023, ink on brushed aluminum, steel frame, 69 x 72 cm
In between states where nothing happens, 2023, wooden bench, lenticular print, 83.5 x 53 x 36 cm
Subdivision, vision continues to divide, 2023, Varnished ink on brushed aluminum, steel frame, 90 x 90 cm
Feeling VIP is all we have left, 2023, ink on brushed aluminum, steel frame, 69 x 70 cm
Destiny7, 2023, ink on brushed aluminum, steel frame, 87 x 85 cm
Clear as crystal, sharp as a knife I feel like I am at the prime of my life, 2023, ink on brushed aluminum, steel frame, 49.52 x 26 cm
Editor’s Pick: Camille Soulat “Suburbcel”
Camille Soulat’s Suburbcel is the feeling of life happening elsewhere, about rurality, childhood, avatars, escapism, nepotism, and fantasy. The title of Soulat’s solo exhibition with Ballon Rouge, is an invented term which corresponds to the contraction of the term “Suburb” and the word “Incel;” the word implies a hatred of coming from the suburbs, from the province, from housing estates – far from where everything seems to be happening. It echoes greediness and exclusion. “In between states where nothing happens” (2023) is a small bench; it’s an in-between state where you wait for an upcoming change, a bus, a date, as hours pass. It’s a metaphor, a land of hope and boredom, of waiting. On the back of the bench, a lenticular print shows eyes that morph into a Skyline view. On the wall beside it is a print on aluminum titled “Subdivision, vision continues to divide” (2023). The windows of the subdivision lot shine bright when the sun goes down. Clothes and accessories become shiny artifacts, vindictive slogans on a bright color shirt, jeans, a New York view imprinted in jersey fabric caught in shiny plastic resin.
The French self-taught artist uses mediums ranging from digital painting and writing, to video installation. Her practice revolves around an intimate form of narration. Interested in notions such as marginality, geek culture and adolescence, Soulat directs her practice around an interpretation and a celebration of the codes associated with both pop culture and counterculture. Suburbcel is on view at Ballon Rouge, Brussels until April 29th.
Some dreams are illegal, 2023, ink on brushed aluminum, steel frame, 69 x 72 cm
In between states where nothing happens, 2023, wooden bench, lenticular print, 83.5 x
53 x 36 cm
Subdivision, vision continues to divide, 2023, Varnished ink on brushed aluminum, steel
frame, 90 x 90 cm
Feeling VIP is all we have left, 2023, ink on brushed aluminum, steel frame, 69 x 70 cm
Destiny7, 2023, ink on brushed aluminum, steel frame, 87 x 85 cm
Clear as crystal, sharp as a knife I feel like I am at the prime of my life, 2023, ink on brushed
aluminum, steel frame, 49.52 x 26 cm
Images courtesy of Camille Soulat & Ballon Rouge