The winner of the 2012 Prix Tokyo Art School, Thierry Liegeois draws his references among other things from the underground culture and the Metal musical universe, in order to explore their conventions and systems of representation.

Drawing his references from the underground culture and the Metal musical universe, Thierry Liegeois likes to play with visual conventions to drag the visitor into a weird universe. The Uncanny Valley Saloon is shaped like a whacked-out bistro made of tables, a still and a video in which a man wearing a mask plays a Death Metal tune with his accordion. Like a genuine death-trap, this installation highlights a reaction similar to that of the “Uncanny Valley”, term used to express an embarrassment felt by humans facing humanoid robot.

The aim of the Tokyo Art School Prize is on the one hand to encourage the emergence of a talented young artist by inviting him / her to exhibit in one of Modules – Fondation Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent, and on the other to support the initiatives undertaken by art schools which are constantly developing and diversifying their teaching to keep up with changes in art. For this first award of the prize, more than 50 young artists who graduated between 2008 and 2012 from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts of Lyon applied. The prize was awarded by a jury consisting of curators from the Palais de Tokyo and representatives of the Ensba Lyon.

To find out more: www.ensba-lyon.fr