Abel Llavall-Ubach (b. Paris, France) is a French photographer who specializes in press photography, notably portraits.
His language as an artist is heavily influenced by the early days of his career: then working as a videographer for a national political TV channel and internationally renowned contemporary dance and theater companies (Théâtre National de Chaillot, Paris), his fondness for portraiture grows rapidly and soon translates into photography as a new medium of predilection.
Llavall-Ubach draws from his experience with moving images and stage performances to construct a photographic realm where scenography is ever present, whilst subtly revealing the individuality and singularity of his models thanks to unexpected chromaticities.
Preferring softness to sharpness, greys to bright colors, the peculiar lighting that has become a signature of his work is in direct contrast with the stern codes of classical studio portrait, bestowing his imagery a sense of eeriness, and the languishing feeling that temporality as we generally conceive it might not be as it seems.
Llavall-Ubach approaches landscapes, still life, and portraits (whether in absentia or with figures depicted in the flesh) in a similar fashion: ethereal, spectral, removed from seasons, hours, and time altogether.
Whether for magazines or more personal and intimate series such as the works featured in this exhibition, a recurring subject in his body of work are monuments and places captured empty of human presence, where the traces left behind are the only clues of a once existing life. Blurring spatial and temporal landmarks in a melancholic and contemplative atmosphere constitute the signature of his vision as an artist.
His work has been featured in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, Télérama, L’Obs, M Le Monde. His photographs have been part of group exhibitions alongside artists such as John Baldessari and Robert Longo (Melancholia, Galerie Dilecta, 2017) and his atypical style of portraiture has seduced the organizers of Paris Fashion Week, who regularly commissions the artist for behind-the-scene images.
Most recently, he founded and launched Collectio(n), a platform dedicated to his documentary work on history and heritage. He lives and works in Paris, France.
Abel Llavall-Ubach
Françoise Watin (b. Algiers, Algeria) is a French Painter. Growing up between Paris, Tahiti, and Algeria, she studied Arts at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and the Centre Culturel Américainin Paris, all the while attending Université Vincennes to study Philosophy and the Peter Goss School for Contemporary Dance.
During that time, Watin fell in love with painting and exhibited her very first works in a hotel in Moorea, in French Polynesia. She then embarked on a journey as a dancer for the prestigious Crazy Horse Saloon that took her all over the world, living and performing in Mexico, Macao, Italy, etc.
While traveling and living abroad, she continued to paint and her passion for nature’s vivid colors has infused her work ever since. Her versatility as a fine artist translates into each of her practices, may it be watercolor, gouache, ink, or oil paint, allowing her to collaborate with various publishing companies and theaters in France and the USA as an illustrator (Éditions de la Tempête, Revue Le Chroniqueur, Éditions Paris Méditerranée, La Mama Experimental Theater Club, etc.)
She lives and works in Normandy, France.
Françoise Watin
Jana RenéeJana Renée (b. Ithaca, NY) is a Fort Worth, TX-based visual artist whose practice focuses on muralism and painting. After receiving her Bachelors of Art at Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2015, Fort Works Art Gallery debuted her series « Reverie » in a first solo show in 2017.
Starting her journey with children’s book illustrations, Renée developed a passion for storytelling. Working with classical oil techniques in the studio and using a combination of latex and spray paint with more modern motifs for her large-scale public works, Renée incorporates her knowledge of classical portraiture, surrealism, and the renaissance masters to explore modern themes such as gender equality, freedom of sexuality and community involvement. Her art reflects a commitment to engaging different audiences, using creativity as a medium to foster connection and elevating community narratives.
Her work has been presented at The Blanc Gallery and The French Cultural Center, and she has created mural projects for The Beat Hotel in Harvard Square and The Boston Children’s Museum in Massachusetts. Renée has been a part of Art Tooth, Neighborhood Cult Project and Inspiration Ally. Her art has been exhibited in 400 h Houston St Gallery, Mañana Land, Fort Works Art, and The Omni Hotel Texas Ballroom, amongst others, and she has completed over 25 public murals in the DFW area.
Renée was voted Best Quarantine Art by the Dallas Observer 2020, Best Artist by Fort Worth Magazine 2021, and Best Community Mural by the Fort Worth Weekly 2022.
You can view one of her brightly-colored murals, a dream-like and ethereal abstract composition steps away from our location, at 1202 W O’Reilly Street.
Thalia MavrosThalia Mavros is a multidisciplinary artist and filmmaker whose work explores the intersections of culture, identity, and transformation. Blending documentary realism with surrealism, her projects examine how narratives shape our perceptions – whether through media, mythology, or the invisible forces that shape space and belonging.
As the founder of The FRONT, an independent creative studio and production company, Mavros has crafted immersive, visually striking storytelling that centers underrepresented voices and reimagines the boundaries between documentary and cinematic art. Her work spans film, television, and experiential media, often blurring the line between observer and participant, fiction and reality.
Her latest projects include Principles of Pleasure (Netflix), an Emmy-nominated series redefining conversations around sex and the body; Keep This Between Us (Hulu/Freeform), a haunting exploration of systemic grooming in U.S. high schools; and Consensus Gentium, a speculative XR experience that won the 2023 SXSW Grand Jury Prize. Her upcoming feature, A La Folie, follows big-wave surfer Justine Dupont, capturing the tension between human ambition and nature’s raw force.
Beyond her artistic practice, Mavros is the co-founder of Bilili Creative Lab, a nonprofit initiative based in Ghana dedicated to equipping women and underrepresented voices with the technical skills and creative tools to break into filmmaking. Rooted in the belief that storytelling is both a personal and collective act of power, Bilili aims to expand access to media production and reframe who gets to tell the stories that shape our world.
Before launching The FRONT, Mavros served as the first Executive Creative Director of Vice, where she led groundbreaking series featuring Pharrell Williams and Johnny Knoxville, helmed The Creators Project with Intel, and conducted in-depth interviews with auteurs such as Werner Herzog, Harmony Korine, and Errol Morris.
Originally from Athens, Greece, Mavros’s creative practice is deeply influenced by her connection to the natural world, her fascination with altered states of consciousness, and an ever-present curiosity about the forces—both seen and unseen—that shape our collective experience. Whether through film, installation, or immersive environments, her work seeks to challenge perception, provoke reflection, and evoke a visceral sense of wonder. She lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.