“Contemporary art and philosophy are very much related,” says Johannes Hoerning, founder of Don’t Projects. “In both cases, it is a process of reflection for the speaker as much as for the listener.” With these concerns in mind the philosophy graduate curator is currently presenting an exhibition about self-contemplation at the Galerie Hélène Lamarque in Paris.

Le Souci de Soi opened a few days ago, and is a multi-media show referencing a text of the same title by the legendary French philosopher Michel Foucault. It literally means "the care" or "the worry" of the self. Exploring the Ancient Greek tradition of self-care, the show re-adapts Foucault’s notion of the "culture of the self", focusing on the importance of mastering one’s sexual, physical, mental existence. As Foucault clearly stated: “The experience of self… is the experience of a pleasure that one takes in oneself. The individual who has finally succeeded in gaining access to himself is, for himself, an object of pleasure.” 

This notion is expressed by Hoerning's six hand-picked artists – the Norwegian photographer Benjamin Alexander Huseby who explores notions of attraction and memory; Cécile Evans, who has created a tongue-in-cheek video exploration of a kiss; the Germano-French artist Mélina Avouac who has created a pocket-sized Greek tragedy; the painter Rainer Fetting who presents three oil paintings, depicting scenes that explore iconic males arcetypes of ‘the loner’ or ‘the hero’; and the Düsseldorf-based artist Christian Schoeler, whose paintings of young, practically nude men emanate purity and detachment from urban life. In the case of both these painters, the pieces use the body as a manifesto for beauty, andboth artists deplore the contemporary ultra-conceptualization of painting. “There is always a feeling that something must be ugly, dirty, cynical," says Fetting. "The painting always has to be upside down, or portray someone shitting. It’s almost an apology for painting!"

“Why can’t we mention an interest in beauty without being ironic?" adds Schoeler. "Why can't you be a serious painter if you are making beautiful paintings?” 

'Le Souci de Soi' at Galerie Hélène Lamarque, 37 rue Vaneau, 75007 Paris until January 19

Previous show by Christian Schoeler at Hélène Lamarque