MISE EN PLACE

Charlotte Klobassa
MAY 12 — JUN 18, 2022

Looking at the phrase from a psychological viewpoint, rather than a culinary, Mise en place refers to the preliminary preparations in response to preconceptions towards a particular situation. How one’s stance places constraints on what one feels able to do within a given environment and how these assessments and predispositions impact the preparation process. These contextual and dispositional factors unite to make a particular goal or set of goals easier to reach by emphasising some choices and downplaying or eliminating others. 

Charlotte Klobassa’s paintings are like this preparation. She takes on different positions by imitating gestures (those of strangers and her own). With the moods, feelings, images, sentiments, the smell of her surroundings, and the external shocks of current affairs, she attempts to depict imagined possibilities, always looking to the future and back to the present. 

Her painting looks at itself. It plays through different versions to prepare for the showdown. Her works imitate this observation of fabrics and textures in resonance with the movements of the body they cover. For example, in Venti, 2022, and Dress Rehearsal, 2022, Charlotte uses silk and cotton as canvas creating a translucent, delicate layer that resembles vellum paper or even sugar icing. The capricious fabrics overflow the frames in subtle waves that run along their contours. 

Charlotte’s paintings reflect this preparation state, referring either to the moment before the event or its remembrance. These pictures sway between the future and the past. They become fetish-like placeholders for versions of oneself that only find expression on special occasions.