Atrata – Atrata is a new site for exhibitions, production and residencies for artists and writers founded by Gil Presti, co-owner of Campoli Presti.

Atrata – founded by Gil Presti – opened its gallery in May 2022 with a residency and an exhibition by Nick Mauss. It develops its activities in two different venues : Villa Atrata in la Roche Posay and Paris.

Villa Atrata is a site for exhibitions, production and residencies, deeply intertwined with the river Creuse and its middle age Chapel, carefully repurposed for viewing and producing art in direct contact with nature.

Atrata Paris is a single room exhibition space providing an intimate and focused environment in the historical Jardin du Palais Royal. Each artist is invited to show an important work of art or a coherent body of work.

Taking its name from the painting in Francis Picabia’s Transparences series, Atrata becomes a sign of what lies outside the realm of normal expectations.

Karen Swami, Bas-reliefs at Atrata Gil Presti

Karen Swami
Bas-reliefs
December 2 – January 13

Gil Presti
30 galerie de Montpensier
Jardin du Palais Royal
75001 Paris

Opening December 2, 3pm – 7pm

“There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.”
Leonard Cohen

Gil Presti is pleased to present Bas-reliefs, a solo exhibition of new works by Karen Swami. Striving to go beyond the form of her usual practice, the smoked ceramic bas-reliefs reveal the lines of gold sliding across the grey and white shaded surfaces as if they were abstract paintings.

Once treated with heat, the clay of the panels captures the accidents of direct contact with fire. These imperfections, accentuated by delicate traces of luminous light and pure gold, embody the essence of kintsugi – a technique, traditionally used to repair vases and porcelain, becomes an artistic gesture. The vases in Japanese vegetal lacquer, gold and glaze and bas-reliefs are of classical forms inspired by ancient traditions, from Nagada amphorae to Cretan and Etruscan vases, ancient Egyptian ceramic plates and Babylonian architecture.

Karen Swami’s work reflects a symbolic and poetic relationship between precise attention to detail, form, material and accident.

Karen Swami is a French artist and ceramist, who lives and works in Paris. Her work was presented by March Fine Art, San-Francisco (2023); Galerie Ateliers Courbet, New York (2022); Galerie Minsky, Paris and Salon Revelations, Paris (2015). She also collaborated with Marie-Sarah Adenis for the project Ce qui tient à un fil at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2021), as well as created exclusive pieces for Guerlain and Maison Dior.