Moiré exhibition by Claire Pasquier at Carson City's Courthouse Gallery

The Capital City Arts Initiative’s exhibition, "Moiré" presents Claire Pasquier’s perceptions and reactions to our lives being played out on the big screen.

The exhibition runs at the Courthouse Gallery, 885 E Musser St, Carson City, from June 8 to Sept. 29, 2022. CCAI will host a reception for the artist on Friday, June 10, 5:00 - 6:30pm, artist introduction at 5:30pm. The Courthouse is located at 885 E Musser Street, Carson City; the gallery is open Monday – Friday, 8:00am – 5:00pm.

Describing her artistic evolution, Claire Pasquier said, “For the past 10 years, I have developed a moiré style dominated by my preoccupation with the virtual world of the tv screen. It started when I moved to San Francisco from France and suddenly realized that I was living in the very movie sets that had entertained my childhood.

"What were once imaginary backdrops of Hitchcock films now figured prominently in my trips to the store. It was a surreal and unsettling sensation that led me to question the realities of virtual and real space. It was also at this same time that social media spaces [platforms] started taking hold of popular culture and redefined who and where we were as people. I found myself fascinated with the world as something we understand and live through screens and thus turned to my training as an academic painter to explain and explore these ideas. First, I focused on cinema and my aesthetic experience of it as a child.

"With a palette knife, I reproduced scenes from VHS tapes and that affected me and questioned my relationship with them. It was both a study and an artistic meditation on these iconic scenes that now surrounded me. Computers had already accustomed us to flat, high-definition virtual worlds, but the truth is these scenes were filled with static imperfections. My work has pushed me to analyze the power of digital images and their effect of on our perception of reality.”

Pasquier has been a professional artist working in Paris, San Francisco, and now Bordeaux, France. Shortly after graduation from the "Art Décos" school (Ensad, Paris), she moved to California where she developed two artistic styles. One is about traditional painted portraits. The other one is influenced by moiré effects on images found in old television screens. Her former literature teacher is now the first lady of France, and she previously acted on stage with Emmanuel Macron.

Vivian Zavataro wrote the essay for the Moiré exhibition. Zavataro is the Director and Chief Curator of The Lilley Museum of Art, at the University of Nevada, Reno. She is a museologist who specializes in contemporary art, history, and art mediation. She has traveled-widely working for museums, galleries, and contemporary art institutions in order to broaden her knowledge and experience of the art world. Her goal is to facilitate interaction between art and the public. Diversity, inclusion, and creativity are essential aspects of her practice.

Carlos Ramirez, a Western Nevada College Latino Leadership Academy student, provided a Spanish language translation of the show’s wall text.

CCAI is an artist-centered not-for-profit organization committed to community engagement in contemporary visual arts through exhibitions, illustrated talks, arts education programs, artist residencies, and online activities.

The exhibition is in collaboration with The Lilley Museum of Art at the University of Nevada, Reno.

The Initiative is funded by the Nevada Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities, Nevada Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts, John and Grace Nauman Foundation, Carson City Cultural Commission, Kaplan Family Charitable Fund, U.S. Bank Foundation, Southwest Gas Corporation Foundation, Steele & Associates LLC, and CCAI sponsors and members.

For additional information, please visit CCAI’s website at www.ccainv.org.