What if you looked at reality through the eyes of your unconscious? From the very first canvases, the eye is drawn into a world of symbolic visions, populated by fragmented bodies, mental landscapes and hijacked objects. The Recto Verseauexhibition, on view at Galerie La Lison from September 19 to November 1, 2025, offers a sensory and introspective reading of our times through the art of Baptiste Hersoc, an artist born in Picardy in 1984, whose singular career blends illustration, oil painting and visual psychoanalysis. In the heart of the Jules Joffrin district, this intimate venue becomes the stage for a dialogue between the everyday and the unconscious, tangible reality and mental imagery.
Theexhibition reveals a body of work that has matured over two decades, nourished as much by the great masters of the 17th century - Rubens, Velázquez, Titian - as by a personal practice of pictorial introspection. Baptiste Hersoc, who has been teaching in a number of applied art schools since 2010, has developed a singular style of visual writing, akin to the language of dreams. Each work is conceived as a mental scene, a kind of interior narrative in which symbols are superimposed and twisted, questioning our relationship with reality.
The Introspection cycle, initiated in parallel with his Genetic Painting series, forms the backbone of theexhibition. Distorted bodies, absent gazes, almost sensory textures... These canvases invite us to feel rather than understand. The viewer is called upon to project his or her own interpretations, to assemble the pieces of fragmented narratives in which familiar objects become vectors of strangeness. The artist seeks to"deliver unusual sensations" by combining heterogeneous elements, as in a daydream.
Are you fascinated by the links between art and psychology? Do you like to lose yourself in the narrative details of a pictorial work? Then this exhibition is for you. But if you're looking for art that's immediately legible, with clear forms and explicit messages, you might want to steer clear of this dense, deliberately opaque universe. Recto Verseau is for the curious, for lovers of visionary art, for those who like to plunge into works with a double or even triple background.
La Lison gallery, discreetly nestled in the heart of the 10th arrondissement within La Bête Humaine tattoo parlour (in its antechamber, to be precise), offers a setting conducive to this inner exploration. Away from the hustle and bustle of the big circuits, this place encourages an intimate relationship with the work. The subdued atmosphere, the almost sacred silence, encourages prolonged contemplation and personal reflection. You can come alone for an almost meditative experience, as a duo to discuss the work at length, or with friends to compare perceptions.
It's a perfect fit for a cultural season focused on the intimate. Perfectly suited to lovers of contemporary art, myths revisited, visual psychoanalysis and ancient techniques, the exhibition is also an opportunity to discover a body of work in full maturity, acclaimed internationally - notably in several American galleries since 2019.
The Recto Verseau exhibition doesn't just show: it tells. Each canvas functions like an encrypted diary page, a window onto an inner universe. The relationship with matter is strong: we perceive the layers, textures and workmanship of the medium, the result of years of research into the techniques of the old masters. The artist plays with light, transparency and impasto effects, creating a constant tension between the visible and the invisible.
This exhibition is also a natural extension of Baptiste Hersoc 's career as an illustrator of tales from all over the world - Niger, Lapland, Celtic countries - where the symbolic and the unspoken have always played a central role. His universe, both narrative and poetic, invites us to a sensory and symbolic, almost shamanic reading of the world.
Recto Aquarius is an invitation to let yourself drift. You may come away troubled, questioned, displaced. But never indifferent.
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Dates and Opening Time
From September 19, 2025 to November 1, 2025
Location
galerie La Lison
5 Rue Pierre Chausson
75010 Paris 10
Access
Metro line 4 "Château d'eau" station
Prices
Free
Official website
www.galerie-la-lison.com
More information
Open Thursday to Saturday, 10am to 7pm.
