HUGO GALERIE is pleased to present Between Dreams, a solo exhibition featuring the enigmatic canvases of Marc Chalmé . The artist presents a vision of the fluid state that’s not quite awake nor fully asleep. His paintings are rooted in our world, but they grow beyond it into someplace else.

Chalmé describes his style as oneiric realism: oneiric means having to do with dreams or dreaming, and realism of course accurately depicts our actual environment. This results in works that render interiors and exteriors with commanding legitimacy—the architecture, chiaroscuro, and perspective envelope viewers, convincing them that with one step they might find themselves strolling a dim street or enjoying a living room view. And yet...

The scenes are somehow hazy. They take shape like reflections surfacing in a rippling pool or faded recollections being slowly stitched together. The light burns a bit too bright while shadows reach a tad too far. Objects are weightless and people rare. Everything glows.

In his own words, Chalmé paints “the mystery of the not immediately visible.” He makes real what we see when we close our eyes, the memories we have not of dreams but from dreams. His works are situated during the oneiric times of dusk and dawn, depict oneiric spaces at once discernable and indistinct, and are occupied by oneiric figures sometimes present only per the suggestion of a lit window. It is no surprise Chalmé is inspired by Edgar Allan Poe—“a dream within a dream,” indeed.