Pauline Boucan. Fuka Gould. Exhibition Opening

In her series of watercolors, Pauline Boucan experiments with the interplay of color, form, and fluidity, crafting works that hover between abstraction and suggestion. Dominated by soft purples, greenish hues, oranges, and blues, the palette creates an ethereal atmosphere, where the tones seem to dissolve into one another, transforming as they fade and blend. The watercolor’s transparency and delicacy invite a sense of quiet contemplation, evoking a serene, almost meditative space.

What captivates most is the way shapes subtly emerge within these washes of color—hints of human or animal silhouettes materialize, yet they remain elusive, as though coming into form by chance rather than deliberate design. This ambiguity leaves the viewer wondering if these figures are intentionally placed, or imagined, projected onto the page by the viewers’ desire to see meaning. This play between intention and perception is the intriguing strength of the work.

In her luminous watercolors, one cannot help but think of the subtle, atmospheric qualities found in the works of Paul Klee whose playful and abstract compositions often seem to suggest forms without fully defining them. Hints of human or architectural shapes emerging from the washes of colour explore spontaneity and the unconscious in art.

Likewise the works by Fuka Gould explore dream and the subconscious. Her biomorphic creatures half animals and half flowers as well as her abstract form studies are connected with our inner fantasies.  The deep reds and purples render her works sombre calm and evoke a sense of organic mystery, as though one is peering into a shadowy underworld of plants or creatures emerging from beneath the surface. The smooth, velvety textures reveal delicate layers of imagery beneath—silhouettes of shapes that shimmer, half-concealed, in subdued tones. The colors create an unsettling, almost otherworldly atmosphere, where the forms seem to hover on the edge of recognition, suggesting the presence of something alive, yet elusive.

The subtle plant- or animal-like silhouettes feel as if they are caught between states of existence, trapped within the somber, muted palette. The paintings, though abstract, invite a sense of quiet foreboding, a biological energy just beneath the surface, at once familiar and alien. This layered complexity, with its soft luminosity, enhances the ominous mood, making the works both captivating and haunting.

Horns.

Cycle of transformation.

Egal, ob es brennt.

BIOGRAPHY / BIOGRAFIE

EN

Pauline Boucan is a Franco-Thai artist born in 1993 in France, currently working and living in Berlin, Germany. Inspired by the aesthetic and essence of nature and its cyclical character, is to be found in her practice of painting and ceramic different natural element like fire, earth or water and deep landscapes using organic forms, play of colours and textures including play of transparency when using mediums like watercolour for instance, with the aim to depict this nature as lively as possible, as something constantly moving. In-between figurative and abstract, she pictures parallel worlds where figures and forms of animal and human-like beings interact among themselves or with the nature. Depicted scenes or atmosphere have something ceremonial or ritual, whether it is an offering from or to nature as part of a cycle of transformation, these are inspired by the beliefs and folklore of both her French and Thai cultural background.

DE

Pauline Boucan ist eine französisch-thailändische Künstlerin, die 1993 in Frankreich geboren wurde und derzeit in Berlin lebt und arbeitet. Inspiriert von der Ästhetik und der Essenz der Natur und ihres zyklischen Charakters, entstehen in ihre keramische und malerische Arbeit verschiedene natürliche Elemente wie Feuer, Erde und Wasser sowie Landschaften mit Tiefenperspektive, wobei sie organische Formen, Farbspiele und Texturen, unter anderem das Spiel mit der Transparenz bei der Verwendung von Medien wie Aquarell, einsetzt, mit dem Ziel, diese Natur so lebendig wie möglich zu gestalten, die ständig in Bewegung ist. Zwischen figurativ und abstrakt schafft sie Parallelwelten, in denen Figuren und Formen von tier- und menschenähnlichen Wesen untereinander oder mit der Natur interagieren. Die dargestellten Szenen oder Atmosphären haben etwas Zeremonielles oder Rituelles, sei es eine Opfergabe von oder an die Natur als Teil eines Zyklus der Transformation, diese sind inspiriert von dem Glauben und der Folklore sowohl ihres französischen als auch ihres thailändischen kulturellen Hintergrunds.

EDUCATION/AUSBILDUNG

2019 – … : Universität der Künste Berlin / Berlin University of the Arts – Klasse Pr. Robert Lucander

GROUP EXHIBITIONS/GRUPPENAUSSTELLUNGEN

2024 Cache-cache @ Zeit ist knapp (Zentrum für internationale Künste), Berlin

2024 Werkschau @ UdK, Berlin

2023 Ereignishorizont @ Schaufenster, Berlin

2023 Grün verkauft sich nicht so gut @ Hilbertsraum, Berlin