AMSTERDAM.- Ellen de Bruijne Projects is presenting Poème, Pute, Police, a solo exhibition by Anne-Lise Coste.

Amidst a time of social unrest and political and economic uncertainty, Anne-Lise Coste’s works, imbued in raw and unrestrained energy, conform a catalyst for upheaval by dint of making the exhibition a space for political protest.




Coste’s oeuvre possesses a vibrant sense of immediacy in their execution, as if we come across them seconds after their execution. Through a clear-cut use of language, her work, amidst painting, sculpture, and graffiti, conveys strong political messages framed in what we could call emotional rebellion.

Poème, Pute, Police is a prime example of how Coste creates her own shibboleth by painting slurs such as pute (whore) in a gesture of taking ownership of them and creating semantic associations. Painted as if graffiti, the words immediately acquire a political dimension. On the other hand, angst within her work is conveyed in a lyrical manner and frequently bathed in a bright palette that reveals a tense synergy between violence and beauty, as in Le Beau Coucher. It is precisely in dualities that Coste’s art finds its power: between gravity and lightness, between impulsiveness and abidance.

Born in 1973 in Marignane, near Marseille, France, Anne-Lise Coste studied in Marseille and in Zurich, after which she was based in New York, and now lives in Orthoux (South of France). Her work is in the collections of many public and corporate collections, such as MACBA, Barcelona, FRAC des Pays de la Loire, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Museum Arnhem, and in private collections in Europe and the USA. She had numerous solo exhibitions, recently in Germany at the Dortmunder Kunstverein, the CRAC in Sète and the Salomon Fondation in Annecy.