Observing Augusta Lardy Micheli’s paintings, brought together for the exhibition Kérosène, the viewer is confronted with images of intensity, concentrated on dense canvases which seem to freeze the energy of thought, and the strength of the artistic gesture.

These expressions of life come first of all from the materiality of the canvases. Made of linen, a medium characterised by its absorbing thickness, they require the artist to paint swiftly, imposing the moment’s expressive force to take precedence over the reflection of all that wishes to be represented. The spontaneity of the gesture becomes the guiding force, and expresses through bursts of paint the layers of thoughts, evoking imaginary or real landscapes, imagined gestures and observed images.

Indeed, these paintings form a stream of consciousness, containing within the linen the energy of what is being thought and the strength of what is being done. In subtle shades of purple and pink, we rediscover the memories of the imaginary ports of Vernet, while a deflagration of blue comes to remind us of the luminous and aquatic atmospheres of the Mediterranean. Between two layers and a mixture of colours, the works reveal a particular geography, constantly balanced between lived places - those we come from - and the imagined destinations - those we wish to go to. Painting is as much the compass of the artist as is her consciousness: it allows us to rediscover the valleys of Switzerland and witness the core of the Earth, it reminds of the scent of salt on the skin and seeks to unravel the mysteries of sentiments. These paintings enclose slices of oil and slices of life. They shape the “je ne sais quoi" of the existence that we all go through, like the green silhouette passing through the red flames on the canvas and the forces in tension that it contains. From this passage of life remain some pieces of canvas, vestiges of the oil flames: they leave to the spectator the joy of contemplating what remains in depth, and never leaves. Like space, like time, like reminiscences of flesh and memories. Like hope.

On this body of work, some areas may appear to be unfinished, even though they are perfectly complete: it is not a question of being perfect but rather of being sincere! There is nothing to hide under an excessively dense layer, nothing to prove under a very pure varnish, nothing to express on an utterly flat canvas. One must seek depth, always, wherever it may be!

Augusta Lardy Micheli's painting is perceived in the gaze, felt it in the canvas, lived in the layers and the sub-layers of colours. With this exhibition, she affirms not a political, but sentimental manifesto. We are offered a painting-reflection of the Art and its artist, which transcribes the essence of images through visceral canvases.They are no longer mere fragments of memory, but constitute themselves as pieces of life.