Survived by Sights

An age-old question in painting is how to represent or simulate the liveliness of life in an inherently still medium. How can you capture the vivacity of perception, which the mind itself tends to dull, and encode it in something immobile? Here, the task plays out as a twofold process: first, train yourself to see that liveliness moment to moment, and then, or simultaneously, find ways to translate it into form. It may be, in part, a matter of enlisting the unpredictabilities of the body, of movement and materials, but they too are subject to becoming codified. Another factor is time, through exploiting the inconsistencies that build up as you look at the same thing day by day. Then there is the contradiction that arises from the natural attempt to visually resolve a process that defies consistent logic. Maybe that tension creates its own kind of vitality, but does it stray too far from representation? Alternatively, one could opt for liveliness at any cost, seeking it out in outrageous gestures, at the expense of likeness. The most consistent way may be to follow what leaves an impression, without necessarily knowing why, and to let that impression-forming gaze zoom in and out repeatedly, so it doesn’t settle in a single register, but uses everything at its disposal. The fruits of such a process may make up in volatility for what they finally lack in actual motion. William Gaucher (b. 1993, Montréal) lives and works in Berlin. Gaucher received his MFA from HFBK, class of Jutta Koether, Hamburg in 2023. Solo exhibitions include CHB, Berlin (2025) and WMP, Hamburg (2023). Recent group exhibitions Capitan Petzel, Berlin (2026); Champ Lacombe, Biarritz; and Clovis Basement, Brussels (both 2025).