YOUNG EUROPEAN ARTISTS

Young European Artists presented the exhibition “L'ultime chant des titans” (The Last Song of the Titans) by Franco-Belgian artist Pierre Demin.

Through a monumental charcoal frieze, the artist plunges the audience into an apocalyptic universe where nature appears as a charred remnant. Ghostly forests, half-charred trees, and twisted branches compose a landscape marked by chaos and ecological collapse. These black-and-white drawings evoke artistic references such as Anselm Kiefer and Zdzisław Beksiński, whose works explore memory and destruction through devastated landscapes.

Pierre Demin's work, with its great graphic precision, also recalls the romantic sensibility of Caspar David Friedrich and the disturbing intensity of Francisco Goya's engravings. By using charcoal to represent these dead trees, the artist accentuates the fragility of our environment in the face of human violence. His work highlights the tension between nature's suffering and resilience, represented by broken bark and organic forms emerging from scorched soil.

Through this frieze, Pierre Demin questions humanity's impact on the planet and the uncontrolled forces of chaos. The historical and mythological references that are omnipresent in his work recall the legends of the Titans, symbols of brute force and rebellion. The artist thus recreates an imaginary battlefield where nature confronts the forces of destruction.

The title of the exhibition, “The Last Song of the Titans,” evokes both the end of an era and the tragic fate of the uncontrollable forces of nature, while echoing current ecological and societal crises. This reflection refers in particular to the world of Hayao Miyazaki in Princess Mononoke, where the relationship between man and nature oscillates between attraction and confrontation.

Since childhood, Pierre Demin has explored his fascination with monstrous figures, embodiments of deep and universal fears. In this exhibition, monstrosity takes the form of a devastated and charred natural world, replacing hybrid creatures with a landscape that has itself become disturbing.

With “L'ultime chant des titans” (The Last Song of the Titans), Pierre Demin offers a work that is both poetic and committed, inviting us to reflect on our relationship with nature and our own quest for meaning in a world marked by destruction. The exhibition is presented as a denunciation of humanity's excesses, but also as a tribute to the eternal forces that govern our planet.