Group exhibition: Head in the Clouds

On the occasion of the 2024 Olympic Games, La Lison merges Parisian landscapes and athletic feats for an exhibition honoring the rooftops of the City of Light. Free opening night on Thursday, July 25 from 7:30 PM!

Stegophily as a common denominator

The exhibition’s name – Head in the Clouds – can be taken both literally and figuratively. La Lison takes you up, high above, offering a moment of reverie close to the clouds, atop the rooftops of Paris.

The program highlights the works of three artists skilled in stegophily – a passion for climbing rooftops, akin to parkour and freerunning.

The names making up our trio of aerialists: Simon Nogueira, Ulyana Ginkgo, and Cheuminer. These three artists provide unique perspectives on the Parisian rooftops, offering a fresh look at the city.

Simon Nogueira: the path is clear

Following Do Look Up, which captivated visitors in July 2023 with impressive views of Parisian rooftops, Simon Nogueira returns to La Lison with his new project The Path is Clear.

A collection of stunning images captured with the self-timer on his camera, he places himself amidst zinc coverings and clay chimneys, atop the city. His vertiginous photographs offer a grand view of the Parisian architectural maze.

Simon is a seasoned athlete, practicing freerunning at a professional level. Also known as parkour, this sport involves developing physical skills to move freely using surrounding obstacles in any environment, resulting in fluid, acrobatic movements.

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Freerunners like Simon Nogueira see the city as a vast playground where every ledge, wall, and rooftop is an opportunity to perfect their skills and express their creativity with agility. Simon’s work translates this philosophy into images, capturing moments of grace and athletic prowess in unexpected, often inaccessible places.

Ulyana Ginkgo: to seventh heaven

We owe her the title of our exhibition. A multidisciplinary artist, Ulyana Ginkgo has gathered her works into a collection named Head in the Clouds – a fitting label she graciously lent us for a few weeks.

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For our group exhibition, Ulyana Ginkgo presents Seventh Heaven, a series of acrylic paintings on canvas. It features Parisian rooftops and their happenings, enveloped in pink clouds. The artist’s colorful comic-style stories blend reality and fantasy. Her style, flirting with Art Brut aesthetics, is poetic, naive, and infinitely pure; it immerses the viewer in a state of happiness and detachment from reality, inviting them to join dreamers, artists, and lovers, ascending above the Earth to reach the seventh heaven.

Since Ulyana left Belarus for France in 2023, the rooftops of Paris and the lives of its inhabitants have become the main focus of her artistic research and multidisciplinary practice. In addition to painting, she engages in photography, performance, and writing her own fairy tales.

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Ulyana describes her art as « a heroic journey towards conscious vulnerability. » She strives to transform each of her experiences and sufferings into aesthetic demonstrations, cultivating wisdom and spreading love. Her works fill the space with a magical atmosphere, inviting the viewer to a world where anything is possible.

Cheuminer: from parkour to roof art

Rarely has an alias resonated so much with reality. A parkour athlete, Cheuminer has long journeyed across the rooftops of Île-de-France, between the brick or stone chimneys he loves so much. An injury forced him to adapt his practice; the urban acrobat then turned to roof art – a street art variation done on rooftops.

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His taste for heights and the unique panoramas offered by the capital’s rooftops gave birth to a composite work: a mix of graffiti (visible from the street) and small chimney fragments he paints.

Cheuminer uses his athletic experience to access areas unreachable by ordinary people. He explains that the choice of the chimney as a main motif came naturally. After his injury, he began drawing on the terracotta chimneys of Parisian rooftops, finding in this practice a new and healing form of expression.

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For the Head in the Clouds exhibition, he agreed to transpose his aesthetics onto canvases, recreating his key motif (a small chimney) and thus offering a new dimension to his work. His transition from urban walls to gallery walls reflects his constant search for freedom in artistic expression.

Cheuminer describes this transition as a new challenge: « Drawing on a canvas doesn’t offer the same sensations as graffiti on rooftops, but it allows for a lasting trace of one’s work. »

What’s up there?

Head in the Clouds is a celebration of boldness and dreams. By combining the visions of three talented artists, this exhibition invites visitors to look up, explore new heights, and discover Paris from a new angle.

Through Simon Nogueira’s vertiginous photographs, Ulyana Ginkgo’s poetic paintings, or Cheuminer’s daring graffiti, each work offers an invitation to contemplation and escape.

Three distinct personalities… for our very own Olympic podium.

Head in the Clouds exhibition at La Lison: practical information

Opening: Thursday, July 25, 2024, from 7:30 PM

Instagram: Simon Nogueira / Ulyana Ginkgo / Cheuminer

Duration: From Thursday, July 25, 2024, to Friday, August 30 2024

Access: Thursday to Saturday, 10 AM to 7 PM

Admission: Free

Address: 5 rue Pierre Chausson, 75010 Paris

Contact: galerielalison@gmail.com