Discover a unique and immersive visual art exhibition at Galerie Mariane Ibrahim. From June 8 to July 22, 2023, the art space welcomes contemporary artist Ian Micheal with his installation “Intimités“. This is the artist’s second solo show and his first in Europe in the Paris art scene.

Ian Micheal’s paintings depict moments of everyday urban life, gestures, neighborhoods and California populations, which form the basis of his pictorial practice. Born in Detroit in 1985 and living in Oakland, California, the artist paints moments of human intimacy and camaraderie, featuring hermaphroditic characters.
Ian Micheal’s works exude great emotional depth, giving visitors free rein to interpret these emotional attachments. His creations are strongly oriented towards an interior environment where we can glimpse cosy domestic spaces such as gardens, kitchens, courtyards and bedrooms, within which lie characters demonstrating a certain closeness, familiarity and intimacy with one another. In so doing, he creates a close connection between the public and the subjects in terms of perception and understanding of these canvases.

Ian Micheal makes the figures in these paintings almost human in size, in order to lend greater realism to these designs. These monumental works then take full possession of the exhibition spaces, immersing visitors in an intimate, comfortable atmosphere.
To achieve this unrivalled visual effect, the artist perfects the support for these canvases by sanding them to obtain a perfectly smooth base for his paintings. He then combines the resulting effect with cool colors such as “rose pink” or “veiled pink” to bring softness and freshness to his paintings. This artistic technique aims to sublimate these works, which reflect the impetuous, impertinent realities of his home town.

The “Intimacies” exhibition presents works with intimate contours that immerse the exhibition space and viewers alike in a soft atmosphere of pleasant, comfortable coolness. Ian Micheal’s work is inspired by Oakland’s social, political and artistic movements, which he reveals in his paintings under an intimate, inviting light.