Artist: Jean-Charles Hue
Exhibition title: Tijuana Tales
Venue: Lulu, Mexico City, Mexico
Date: July 11 – August 22, 2020
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Lulu, Mexico City
Lulu is pleased present a solo exhibition of the French, Paris-based film maker and artist Jean-Charles Hue entitled Tijuana Tales.
Fluidly operating within and between the worlds of contemporary art and cinema, the work of Jean-Charles Hue is very much about thresholds– between nations, places, comprehension, modes of being, this world and the next. His singular and inimitable production has been shown in galleries, institutions and film festivals all over the world. He is probably most well known for his portrayal of a French Yeniche or Roma community outside of Paris, with whom he became quite close, existing among them almost Gonzo-style, making them the subject of several short and then full-length films, made between 2003 and 2007. However, more recently his work has begun to revolve around the Mexican border town Tijuana, where he has become something of an habitué, having explored the city and its inhabitants in the forthcoming full length feature, Tijuana Bible (2020) and numerous short films, one of which, Tijuana Tales (2017) is being presented at Lulu alongside a selection of photographs related to the production of the film.
This short, harrowing film recounts the stories of a motley crew of quasi-otherworldly characters whose status as figures on the threshold between life and death reflects the liminal quality of Tijuana itself. Formally indebted to Chris Marker’s Sans Soleil (1983) and Jean Rouch’s Les Maîtres Fous (1955), it is a strange and beautiful piece which both creates and portrays a universe which is categorically difficult to circumscribe with language. It is perhaps precisely for this reason that it has such a unique way of marking the viewer with the visionary mood it so evocatively seeks to depict, all but initiating them into its phantasmagoric demimonde.
Jean-Charles Hue (b.1968, Eaubonne, France) lives and works in Paris. A selection of recent solo exhibitions includes: (2011) Jean-Charles Hue, Espace croisé, Roubaix, France (2015) Jean-Charles Hue, 40mcube, Rennes, France (2014) Jean-Charles Hue – Talk, SAM Art Project, Paris, France (2013) Database (collection du FRAC Poitou-Charentes), Centre d’art expérimental, Angoulême, France Jean-Charles Hue / UNDERWORLD CINEMA. Recent group exhibitions include: (2020) Oh les beaux jours (Happy Days), Michel Rein, Paris, France (2001) En toute Modestie – Archipel Di Rosa, MIAM, Sète, France (2016) Day for Night, collection video Antoine de Galbert, Le SHED centre d’art contemporain, Notre-Dame de Bondeville, France Mexikokarikatur, Instituto Cervantes, Frankfurt, Germany; Animal on est mal, FRAC Ile de France au Château de Rentilly, Bussy Saint Martin, France (2015) New Tijuana Mood, ENSAPC Ygrec, Paris, France Cinéma, Les 2 Scènes, Besançon, France; True Story, Proyectos Monclova, Mexico city, Mexico. His films have been screened numerous festivals including Cannes, Venice, FICC Mexico and others, and he has been the recipient of the Jean Vigo Prize (2014) and the Langlois prize (2015), among others.
