Jérôme Zonder: Fatum

Jérome Zonder's show has transformed the Maison Rouge into a forest straight out of a fairytale illustrated by Gustave Doré. The walls are covered from floor to ceiling in grey drawings, creating a disturbing atmosphere where the artworks have escaped their frames and taken over the entire space. More than a simple exhibition, this is a dense and intense immersion into the world of an artist who has spent the last 15 years concentrating exclusively on black and white drawings, executing them without erasing or retouching.

With extraordinary virtuosity, Zonder creates works that are an extension of his inner turmoil, living them to the extent that he abandons conventional tools and manipulates the graphite powder with his hands. The drawings can be hyperreal or childlike, from Robert Crumb-esque cartons to images that evoke painting, collage, photograohy or even sculpture. Born in Paris in 1974, Zonder explores the 'ideological shambles' of his generation, creating a shark-infested soup of images that reference the Holocaust, Disney, Otto Dix, porn, Hitler, Oscar Wilde, emoticons, Che Guevara, reptiles, the Rwandan genocide and film stills from 'Scream' and 'Les Enfants du Paradis'. Creating a sense of unease that's somewhere between fear, guilt and denial, Zonder's work provokes, surprises and discomforts.