Entertainment frequently begins where reality becomes slightly distorted. Cinema built entire worlds around that idea, theatre repeatedly returned to it, and contemporary art increasingly explores similar territory through narratives where fiction quietly says more than direct commentary ever could. Stories were never created only for escape. The strongest ones often operate as mirrors. And perhaps fairy tales survived for centuries for precisely that reason: they allow difficult subjects to arrive through imagination first.
From May 23 through June 20, 2026, La Galerie Prima presents Takicardi, a new exhibition by French artist Héloïse Rival. For her second exhibition with the gallery, Rival introduces an entirely new body of work that marks an important development within her artistic practice. Rather than approaching the space through isolated pieces, she constructs something much closer to a total installation — one unfolding almost like a theatrical production. Visitors do not simply observe artworks here. They move through a story.
Large glazed ceramic wall pieces appear throughout the exhibition like scenes from an unfolding tale. Together they create a sequence carrying its own rhythm and emotional movement. The works function almost as chapters linked by an unspoken moral structure. Narrative, however, never arrives as decoration in Rival’s practice. It operates as the foundation itself. Fiction becomes a mechanism through which contemporary tensions can be explored indirectly, without becoming literal illustration. For Takicardi, Héloïse Rival draws subtle inspiration from the animated film The King and the Mockingbird, preserving elements of its symbolic structure and political undertones. Particular attention falls upon the character of the Shepherdess. Through her, Rival develops a reflection surrounding confinement, expectation, and the possibility of moving beyond assigned roles.
Inside the original story, the Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep exist as painted figures trapped within a palace controlled by an authoritarian king. Their act of stepping outside the frame changes everything. Once removed from the decorative background surrounding them, they stop functioning as static images and begin acting within the world itself. Rival becomes interested precisely in that symbolic transition.
The idea immediately introduces larger questions. Who decides where people belong? At what point does identity stop functioning as decoration and begin becoming action? And how often do invisible structures quietly organize the roles people continue performing?
The Shepherdess first appears as a figure restricted by expectations and architecture itself. She exists enclosed within decorative space and almost disappears into the environment surrounding her. The image feels immediately familiar. Literature, cinema, and popular culture repeatedly returned to versions of vulnerable female figures positioned as objects of desire or protection. Rival recognizes those visual traditions and quietly turns them toward another direction. What begins as containment gradually introduces movement.
Even the physical structure of the frames participates in that tension. Their contours recall decorative architectural forms associated with classical ornamentation and historical interiors. Historically, theorist Leon Battista Alberti famously described painting as an open window onto the world. Here, however, the frame behaves differently. It no longer creates openness alone. It assigns position. It defines space. It determines who remains inside. Crossing that boundary does not arrive dramatically. There are no heroic gestures or theatrical escapes. Instead, Rival approaches freedom through small acts of movement and gradual disobedience. The shift appears subtle, though its implications become considerably larger.
Material choices strengthen that narrative further. Constructed from assembled ceramic fragments painted with enamel, the works exist somewhere between image and object. Traditionally associated with domestic ornament and decorative surfaces, ceramic enters Rival’s practice here on an entirely different scale. The material extends beyond the wall itself, moving downward into surrounding space and transforming the installation into an environment visitors physically enter.
As a result, decoration itself changes status. Frames, ornaments, and motifs no longer function as visual additions placed around artworks. They actively participate in constructing meaning and shaping experience.
Perhaps that remains one of the most compelling aspects of Takicardi. The exhibition never insists upon one fixed interpretation. References coexist freely. Symbols remain open. Meanings refuse hierarchy. Visitors are invited to enter the story and bring their own associations with them.
