Fred Atlan exhibition at Galerie Rachel Hardouin: "Au creux de mes paupières" (In the hollow of my eyelids)

Galerie Rachel Hardouin hosts Fred Atlan's "Au creux de mes paupières" exhibition, an immersive plunge into symbolist photography, dreamlike drawing and poetic inks, inspired by the world of Maeterlinck, from June 5 to 16, 2025.

In the heart of Paris's 10th arrondissement, Galerie Rachel Hardouin hosts an exhibition that's more to be experienced than visited: Au creux de mes paupières, the first monograph by visual photographer Fred Atlan, runs from Thursday, June 5 to Monday, June 16, 2025. This introspective project unveils for the first time a work in the shadows, the fruit of over ten years of research in the intimacy of his studio apartment. Through photographs, drawings and inks, Fred Atlan immerses us in a timeless space inspired by the world of symbolist playwright Maurice Maeterlinck.

Here, the gaze is invited to take a different approach. Forget the hustle and bustle of the outside world. From the very first moments, the subdued light, shifting shadows and raw materials transform the gallery into a place of poetic meditation, where each image becomes a passageway to an inner world. A floating temporality settles in, like a suspended breath, a slow respiration that connects you to your own imagination.

An art of silence and accident

Fred Atlan doesn't photograph what he sees. He invents a space between the real and the simulacrum. On his living-room table, he builds ephemeral installations out of modest materials: pieces of cardboard, crumpled leaves, string, worn fabrics. Under his gaze, these everyday objects become archaic landscapes, fragile habitats, witnesses to a faded but tenacious world. The artist works with light like a living material, transforming the banal into the sacred, the invisible into a trace.

This work follows in the footsteps of the great names of symbolism, brutalism andArte Povera. But here, there's no heavy-handed quotation or posturing. Fred Atlan draws his inspiration from everyday life, silence, play and accident. His photographic gesture is a ritual, almost mystical, where the image becomes an event in its own right. It is not a trace of reality, but a poetic event, a work that exists by itself, without seeking to demonstrate.

A sensitive, immersive experience

Are you a fan of contemplative art, singular visual research and discreet mysticism? This exhibition is for you. Whether you're on your own for a meditative break, with a partner for an inspiring outing, or with friends in search of new artistic experiences, Au creux de mes paupières offers a suspended moment, an airlock between two realities. The gallery becomes a mental refuge, a place where you can listen to yourself and the world in its most secret folds.

Through his images, Fred Atlan questions matter, light and shadow, and their capacity to transmute meaning. A corner of a table becomes territory. A forgotten piece becomes a promise of infinity. The visitor is bewildered, unsettled, then deeply moved. Nothing is fixed, everything is in tension, in the making.

An aesthetic of the soul and the moment

What you'll see here is not a simple display of photographs. It's a journey into the intimate, an encounter between the carnal and the spiritual, between damaged matter and the idea of resurrection. Fred Atlan 's gaze is benevolent, almost tender, towards what society rejects. He creates autonomous visions, in which the photographed object loses its referent and is transformed into a visual enigma.

Like Junichirō Tanizaki in Éloge de l'ombre, Atlan celebrates penumbra, muted hues and forgotten textures. His work becomes an ode to hidden beauty, to the patina of time, to the inner light of things. Each image is a gentle trap for the eye, a playground for the mind. Nothing is to be understood, everything is to be felt.

Don't miss this rare invitation to experience art as a poetic journey. Au creux de mes paupières is much more than an exhibition: it's a sensitive experience, a moment of abandonment to a subtle, non-conformist aesthetic, to be experienced in the precious calm of the Rachel Hardouin gallery. Also note that for Nuit Blanche 2025, the gallery will be open until 11pm for you to discover the exhibition. All you have to do is drop in!

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