#trompe-lil

#trompe-lil

Everything feels more expensive these days, especially when it comes to eating out. One place in particular where you might have noticed an increase in prices is at bakeries as owners continue to battle the rising costs of staple ingredients like butter and eggs. But no matter how much your local bakery is charging, you can at least rest assured that there are people paying a heck of a lot more out there, especially at Cedric Grolet in London.

Arles-born artist Sarah Espeute learned embroidery as a child but did not return to the practice until decades later. After studying graphic design in Paris, working in Riso printing, founding a publishing house, and painting, she took up embroidery again for a one-off exhibition. The response was immediate. She went on to found Œuvres Sensibles and relocated her studio to Marseille, where she now works from a made-to-measure atelier alongside a team of trained embroiderers and artists.

On the second floor of Hany Armanious's exhibition at Buxton Contemporary in Melbourne, a curl of tangerine peel lies on a shelf, its yellowing, pithy insides facing upwards. It feels like it should be cleaned up, but it won't be. The rind is not rubbish discarded by a careless visitor: it's a perfect resin cast made by Armanious. Placed carefully around the gallery are resin recreations of other items more commonly seen in bins: a group of melted candles, blobs of Blu-Tack, crumbly chunks of polystyrene.