Before the line, before the form, there is a suspended moment. A state of concentration in which the gesture has not yet occurred, but already resonates — quietly, in space, in matter.

The exhibition Before the Gesture brings together two artists whose work explores this subtle tension between the potential for movement and its restraint.

In Juliette Lemontey’s paintings, figures—often seen from behind, immersed in water or held in stillness—seem captured just before a shift, a thought, or a disappearance. Painting becomes a site of internal suspension, a presence turned inward.
Sepa, in contrast, works with wood as an extension of the body. Ladders, stools, and ambiguous forms resist clear function, evoking instead a physical, instinctive vocabulary — always on the verge of activation.

What comes before the gesture is not empty.
It is a threshold: a space of listening, tension, and heightened attention — where creation begins.

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