Ici Plage, comme ici-bas

Hundreds of people go about the most diverse, even antipodal occupations in this large, bustling painting. On the left they are laughing, grimacing, dancing or playing in a fairground in the distance. In the centre and on the right, they are furiously committing acts of blind violence. The action occurs in a colourful, imaginary city with postmodern accents.

Ici Plage, comme ici-bas (“Here Beach, Like Down Here”) is Martial Raysse's second beach work after Raysse Beach, a 1962 immersive installation that recreated a seaside setting. But 50 years after his carefree image of an idyllic consumer society, he depicts humanity’s most terrible contradictions in acidic colours.

Ici Plage, comme ici-bas (Here Beach Like Down Here) is a monumental work probing the ambivalence of human nature, one of the artist’s favourite themes. It was exhibited for the first time by the Pinault Collection in 2015 during the major retrospective exhibition devoted to Raysse at the Palazzo Grassi.