Émilie Dumas – Les Américaines

with Ellen Turner Hall

“Les Américaines”,  the title of this  mini-exhibition of four canvases and one box, refers to automobiles. Seen from different angles, the cars drive right out of reality into a world of their own. The  artist Emilie Dumas says her works are based on photographs, then drawn and painted onto  sprawling canvases.

The blue  racing car is suspended in mid-air on patches of different shades of blue. The exterior world appears as a  mere reflection along its side. The red car drips blood  from its front bumper,  as if it had just been involved in  a hit-and-run  accident.  As  the vehicle emerges from the light into the dark, the red gradually pales from  deep vermillion to  light pink.

While the white car appears as unfinished as the canvas’s  mysterious empty spaces, the green car parked on a street  is  delineated in distinct  perspectives and parallel lines.  Look again and  the same  scene  in black and white  floats  incongruously above  itself.

The box is painted bright yellow with  two different views of the same  gleaming black Mercedes. One facade  depicts a domestic scene of a family of four with a white house  and trees in the background,  the other  is dominated by the  open road  under a cloudless blue sky. Dumas exploits the curve of the box  to reinforce the lateral lines and  add dynamism to the whole.

Emile Dumas’ wheeled world is  an eccentric mixture of the ordinary and the uncanny. “Les Américaines” is currently on display at  Côté Galerie at  Collioure’s museum of  modern art until 4 January 2026.

For further information: museecollioure.com.

Friday 27th September 201