Mimesis, offering an overview of two decades of work that explores nature, materiality, and craftsmanship. Through his hyperreal representations and enigmatic surfaces, Gernay draws viewers into a space where perception oscillates between the familiar and the uncanny.

Staring into the sea — the deep blue water shining and reflecting across a wavy surface. Walking through a forest where darkness and light collide, revealing fleeting contours and indistinguishable sounds of the wilderness. Touching a surface whose origin, substance, or authenticity resists definition. Such sensory moments resonate throughout Damien Gernay’s practice, where encountering his work can be puzzling and surprising, intriguing and spectacular. No words are needed to appreciate the intuitive and mystifying impressions his pieces evoke.

Aristotle once argued that mimesis — imitation — is a natural human activity and a way of understanding the world. Gernay observes, re-enacts, and recreates reality in similarly curious and intelligent ways. With a heightened perception of nature’s wonders and a keen sensitivity to the possibilities of contemporary technology, he produces works that are at once relatable and unsettling. They instinctively give rise to questions: What is this? Is it real? How was it made?

Mimesis offers an immersion into the elemental: fire, water, air, rock, and forest. Damien Gernay’s poetic sensibility is evident in the way he captures traces of time, movement, and making across each piece. The exhibition encourages viewers to look more closely, question what they perceive, and experience the space where reality meets its re-imagining.