Lola Gonzàlez
VERIDIS QUO
video / 2016
wall of a residential building, Korzeniowskiego 19/21
Lola Gonzàlez’s seemingly simple films and performances in fact communicate the artist’s astute reflection on the world, on what and how we see – or how we think we see. Gonzàlez usually works through experimentation, provoking certain situations in groups to which she invites her friends and members of her family. This is also the case with Véridis Quo, which documents the stay of a group of the artist’s friends in an unspecified location: a beautiful, yet menacing mansion somewhere off the beaten track, on a windy hill, with the sea visible in the distance. The events and gestures comprising this film, as well as the atmosphere it evokes, give it an oneiric and theatrical air. The protagonists – young women and men – communicate without words, mostly through touch, as if preparing for loss of sight, combat or self-defence. Sensuous bodily choreographies shown through caring gestures intertwine with more brutal moments, when the characters practice shooting guns. The scene of a common meal, a last supper of sorts, is shown in a similar manner: tasting seafood (a common aphrodisiac) is at the same time very seductive and brutal (we hear the crunching noise of breaking off the limbs of crustaceans). This enigmatic group may be seen both as opposed to the rest of the world and as a substitute for it, its degenerate copy.
The wild romanticism, strongly present in Gonzàlez’s film, is a perfect match for the brutal and lyrical nature of Brzeźno, where seaside poetry meets trivial everyday life in a mundane housing estate. The resulting feeling is that of an unattainable dream of having a closer and stronger bond with nature, of being together as part of a community.
Lola Gonzàlez (b. 1988)
is a video artist and performer. She graduated in Fine Arts in Lyon (2012) and in 2016 received the prestigious Prix Meurice award for contemporary artists. In her video works and performances, Gonzales looks at the strength and limitations of a group. Her approach to art is marked by authenticity and spontaneity. Her works have been presented at numerous exhibitions and festivals in France and beyond. Gonzales was born in Angoulême, she lives and works in Brittany and Paris.