Il faut cultiver notre jardin.

Caspar Giorgio Williams

22 Aug

Written By Pol Le Vaillant

19 September 2024 – 09 November 2024

Opening reception: Wednesday, September 19, 6–8:30pm

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16, rue Cécile Bieler-Butticaz, 1207 Geneva, Switzerland ↗

Sébastien Bertrand is pleased to present Il faut cultivar notre Jardin, a solo exhibition that introduces Caspar Giorgio Williams’s (1993, London, UK) work for the first time at the gallery.

“Pangloss sometimes said to Candide:

‘There is a concatenation of events in this best of all possible worlds: for if you had not been kicked out of a magnificent castle for love of Miss Cunegonde: if you had not been put into the Inquisition: if you had not walked over America: if you had not stabbed the Baron: if you had not lost all your sheep from the fine country of El Dorado: you would not be here eating preserved citrons and pistachio-nuts.’

“All that is very well,” answered Candide, “but let us cultivate our garden.”

–Voltaire, Candide, Chapter XXX, 1759.

The exhibition takes its title – “Il faut cultiver notre jardin” (let us cultivate our garden) – from the famous closing line in Voltaire’s Candide, first published in 1759 simultaneously in Amsterdam, Geneva, and Paris. Alain de Botton states that Candide’s intention was to challenge the optimism that had come with Reason, and which was centered on science, progress, love, and faith in humanity.

In this picaresque novel, following a departure from his sheltered, Eden-like paradise, Candide embarks on a series of adventures which eventually lead him to Turkey, where he takes to looking after a small piece of land. Having witnessed all the bad that mankind is capable of, Candide has come to the realization that only by looking after his own garden – by working on bettering his own world in a sustainable and self-sufficient manner – is he able to lead a fulfilling life.

The thirty watercolors included in the exhibition reference images taken from known paintings, specifically depictions of saints and heroes, public and private gardens, fashion and homoerotic imagery, and photographs and film stills featuring models and actors. The subject is depicted in simple, bold lines, while the palette, often limited to one hue, focuses on the essential tonal values of the composition. The result is a transparency effect, the brush strokes, drips, and dry edges showing dramatically.

Together, these images are a window into the artist’s imaginary. They denote care and aspiration toward attention and self-improvement while also being imbued with a sense of courage and romance.