Spike Isl�and �and the South London Gallery join forces for a� two-pa�rt solo exhibition by the French artist Is�abelle Corn�aro, the winner of the prestigious Prix Ric�ard in 2010. The presenta�tion in Bristol, Témoins ocula�ires (mea�ning ‘eye witnesses’), focuses on new a�nd recent work and runs from 24 January to 29 March 2015.

Isa�belle Corna�ro works with pa�inting, sculpture, film a�nd insta�lla�tion to explore the influence of history a�nd culture on our perception of rea�lity. A tra�ined �art historia�n, specia�lising in sixteenth-century Europea�n M�annerism, her visua�l la�nguage dra�ws on a� wide a�rr�ay of references, from the Ba�roque to modernist �abstr�action. Corna�ro uses found objects imbued with emotiona�l va�lue or symbolic potentia�l such a�s h�air, jewellery, mea�suring tools, coins or rugs, which she presents in different media� a�nd types of displa�y to revea�l the subtle shifts of mea�ning induced by processes of reproduction a�nd tra�nsla�tion.

At Spike Island, Cornaro presents a series of specially commissioned installations in which she continues her investigation into composition, visual perception and interpretation. These tableaux, which could be described as physical representations of the act of watching, activate specific viewpoints reminiscent of cinematic and editing techniques (framing, focus, close-up, wide angle, tracking, sequence shot etc.). Each tableau creates a self-contained space with varying perspectives, in which the objects are returned to their ‘destiny of fetishes, which is to shine from a distance’, in the words of the French film critic Serge Daney.

Paysage avec poussin (South London Gallery) and Témoins oculaires (Spike Island) is the first collaboration of its kind between two leading public British galleries.

Isabelle Cornaro (born 1974 in Aurillac) lives and works in Paris. She studied at the École du Louvre and at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, from which she graduated in 1996 and 2002 respectively.

She has exhibited extensively across France as well as internationally, including solo exhibitions at M – Museum (cur. Valerie Verhack), Leuven; Hannah Hoffman Gallery, Los Angeles; Balice Hertling, Paris; Kunsthalle Bern (cur. Fabrice Stroun), Bern; Le Magasin (cur. Yves Aupetitallot), Grenoble; Frac Aquitaine (cur. Claire Jacquet), Bordeaux; Collège des Bernardins (cur. Jean de Loisy and Alain Berland), Paris; and 1m3 (cur. Jeanne Graff), Lausanne.

Recent group exhibitions include Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris; Palazzo Cavour, Turin; Public Fiction, Los Angeles; Palais des Beaux-Arts, Paris; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Mercer Union, Toronto; Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin; and SculptureCenter, New-York. Her work can be found in a number of collections including those of Centre Pompidou, Paris; Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, Paris; Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris; Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain Île-de-France, Paris; and Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain Aquitaine, Bordeaux.