Insolence!
The young woman stares contemplatively at the candle flame, her shoulder bared. Her right hand is resting on a skull in her lap. Vanitas, carpe diem, memento mori – the Baroque painting observes the guiding principles of the age. But, in addition to the dark eye sockets of the skull, meant to remind us of our mortality, there are two quite spirited eyes looking back at us; those of a goblin. In Freche Kopie (Insolent Copy), a series of digital collages, Margret Eicher transplants house elf Dobby from the modern blockbuster Harry Potter into a 17th century painting, creating a confrontation between high and pop culture, a true “Revolt of the Symbols,” which can be viewed until 16 December in Eicher’s exhibition of the same name at the Goethe-Institut Nancy.
