Claire Tabouret was born in 1981 in Pertuis, France, and currently works between Paris and Los Angeles. She trained at the Cooper Union School of Art in New York and the École des Beaux Arts in Paris. Her work is strongly influenced by the theme of memory, and draws inspiration from images from the past, such as photographs or childhood memories. The central element of her paintings and sculptures is the human being. Her portraits, either individual or in groups, have an atmosphere of mystery and anxiety; her figures fluctuate in a spatial-temporal dimension that is difficult to define, and invariably stare at the viewers without ever interacting with them. Tabouret’s work plays on the ambiguous relationship between the work and the spectator: as viewers, we do not recognise ourselves in her figures but at the same time they feel familiar. Passionate about historic painting, Tabouret includes discreet and subtle quotations in her work in homage to famous works by past artists.