ALAIN RODIER
17th to 23rd December 2012. SW1 Gallery. LONDON
Paris 2012
Photo Maryna Kutznietsova
Conversations: A preview to Alain Rodier’s “New paintings in Series 2012” (Art) Alain Rodier’s story is one of thorough and enduring adventure. Brought up in Saint-Julien-en-Genevoix, on the brink of France’s alpine border with Switzerland, a young Rodier rst moved to Paris in 1980 to study Economics. There, he - be friended a photographer who was in need of an assistant, and from this his, per haps most unlikely, career in modern art began to unfold.First experimenting in lm and photography as a student, his eventual position as a fashion photogra pher with Vogue magazine took Alain around the world, with stints in France, -A us tralia, the United States, Italy and nally London, was not until reaching the latter in 1989, that he would give up his position at Vogue to focus full-time on the potential of his own artistic endeavour ,first in collage, and then in paint. From this, he then begins to mix the two, and experiment with his method of compo sition, including expansive silkscreened photographs as the starting point for larger paintings. His rst ever solo exhibition takes place in London, and from here he once again moves around North America and Europe fuelled this time by his own creativity. His ‘Paintings in Series 2012’ exhibition, showing at the SW1 Gallery in December, will mark his rst return to London since2003. It will collate twenty- ve of his most recent works, taken from over the last year or so, and showcase them across the four main series within which they were conceived, ‘Cities’, ‘Women’, ‘Burn Cash, Buy Paintings’, and ‘Entanglement’.Like much of the work Rodier has produced in the past, these pieces are composed through the duality of setting forth contrasting forms and elements into one another, most notably silk-screened photography and acrylic painting. They achieve an abstract whole, endowed with a powerful and stark ambiguity. They give rise to new and contemporary aesthetics through the boldness of their own surreal dislocation. The end-result bears an in uence on the eye that is powerful and sharp, potent and evocative. Rodier explains, “my work is based rst on a painted background, then a photographic collage is produced, which is then printed onto the painted canvas. This has become my language of sorts.”This method is at its most daring, and perhaps most impactful, in the ‘Women’ series. The last in the series, entitled ‘Women’ itself, presents perhaps the most profound dichotomy between elegance and abrasion, in a manner that approaches a sort of traumatic urgency. I like the completely di erent energies that they both put out. One is obviously
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physical, and the other more mental. They are two of my favourite models Sveta and Marusha. Both sides of the image re ect both facets of the women I paint. ”The ‘Cities’ Series collects images of iconic landmarks to produce expansive urban col lages of some of the world’s most recognisable cities. We see pieces of the famous New York skyline, with buildings that appear to vertically sprawl, and sway across each other, as they forever extend beyond themselves. These are again accompa nied by colourful shapes and patterns that manipulate and expand our perception of the modern metropolis. The series tells an intriguing tale of a very twentieth cen tury brand of modernity. “Cities are places where I get my inspiration; I nd their energy fascinating.The collages are an interesting way to show di erent aspects of each city, mixing images that would not normally be together. For me it is some thing very positive, but because of the way that I do my collages, I could see how they could be viewed as subversive, because they are fragmented by de nition.” In ‘Burn Cash, Buy Paintings’, we see Rodier take on more explicitly topical subject matter, “‘Take the money and run’was the rst in the series; I started by wanting to show how much cash one million Euros really is, and it is a lot! It puts a very real image to a very abstract sum for most people.” This playful exploitation forms a cold reminder, of the deep madness that manifests itself in the western world’s modern corporate culture, something that appears to add a particularly severe undertone to the representations made in the ‘Cities’ series before it. “Then I also started working on ‘The Banker’ which, once nished with its drawing of the face, gave me the overall direction for the series. The character with his suit and attaché case open full of cash came naturally in the idea of the ‘banking crisis’.” Rodier goes on, “even though events around me obviously in uence my perception of the world, usually tend to paint through feelings more than a conscious will to say something relevant to the world around me.I think that the ‘Burn Cash Buy Paintings’ series is the rst time I have actively tried to make my work pertinent to my environment.”‘Entanglement’ is the collective title of a work spread across two di erent paintings. The chaotic result helps tell thetroubling and di cult story of disarmament after the Lebanese civil war, “all the pictures of this collage were taken using the extensive gun collec tion of one Lebanese individual.”There will also be other works featured at the SW1 exhibition, in addition to these four collections. “The work going on show at the SW1 Gallery is a collection of paintings that re ect a certain period of my life, so in this way they are all quite closely connected to each other. I hope people will enjoy discovering and looking at these paintings and collages as much as I enjoyed pro ducing them, and now looking at them again myself.”
A BIOGRAPHY. A BIOGRAPHY. A BIOGRAPHY. A BIO ... Alain Rodier was born in 1962 in Saint Julien en Genevoix in France. He studies eco nomics in Paris then quickly turns to studies in lm making as well as in photgraphy He becomes an assistant in both elds from 1981 to 1983. The year 1983 is the yea r of the start of a fashion photography career that will last until 1990 with extensive periods of time in Australia, the United States, France, Italie and ends in the UK in London. This is when he stops fashion and concentrate on his own artworks, rst wi th collages then with paintings. Starts to include silkscreend photographs taken by himself in the composition of the paintings. This experimentation is followed by his rst solo exhibition in 1991. 1991 and 1992, spends his time between London and P Paris working on commissioned portraits and a new exhibition. Then after a short tri trip to the US, decides to leave Europe for a while and moves to Los Angeles where he does mostly portraits. End of 1992, lives in downtown NYC for three years. There he works with Andy Warhol’s last silkscreen studio in Manhattan. First american exh ibition in NYC in 1994. 1995, rst exhibition in Paris. Goes back brie y to NY then mo ves back to London. Large solo exhibition in London in 1998, then moves back and forth from London to Paris until 2007. 2008 moves to Amsterdam in the Netherlands rst exhibition there. Stays there until the end of 2009 then moves back toParis. The re, in February 2011 solo exhibition goe at the gallery Couteron in Saint Germain in Paris. August and September, solo exhibition in Beirut Libanon. Lives and works in Neuilly sur Seine until 2012. Moves to Kiev in the Ukraine for a few months before re turning to London for the December2012exhibition at the SW1 gallery. Alain Rodier was born in 1962 in Saint Julien en Genevoix in France. He studies economics in Pa Paris then quickly turns to studies in lm making as well as in photgraphy. He becom es an assistant in both elds from 1981 to 1983. The year 1983 is the year of the start of a fashion photography career that will last until 1990 with extensive periods of tim time in Australia, the United States, France, Italie and ends in the UK in London. This is when he stops fashion and concentrate on his own artworks , rst with collages th then with paintings. Starts to include silkscreend photographs taken by himself in th the composition of the paintings. This experimentation is followed by his rst solo ex hibition in 1991. 1991 and 1992, spends his time between London and Paris working on commissioned portraits and a new exhibition. Then after a short trip to the US, decides to leave Europe for a while and moves to Los Angeles wherehe does mostly portraits End of 1992 lives in downtown NYC where he works with Andy Warhol’s...
NEW PAINTINGS IN A SERIES. Opening on 17th December, Alain Rodier’s ‘New Paintings in Series’ is a collection of twenty- ve works across four di erent series, ‘Cities’, ‘Women’, ‘Entanglement’, and ‘Burn Cash Buy Paintings’. The Cities Series collates images of iconic landmarks into large urban collages of some of the world’s biggest cities. We see pieces of the famous New York skyline, with buildings that appear to sway across each other as they forever extend beyond themselves. These are accompanied by more disparate and abstract explorations of painted colour across canvas, summoning a potent and powerful nal image. The series tells an intriguing tale of a very twentieth century brand of modernity. ‘Cities are places where I get my inspiration; I nd their energy fascinating. The collages are an interesting way to show di erent aspects of each city, mixing images that would not normally be together . For me it i s something very positive, but because of the way that I do my collages, I could see how they could be viewed as subversive, because they are fragmented by de nition. ’The Women Series combines photographic prints in combination with oil painting to produce a highly impactful visual experience. The last in the series, entitled ‘Women’ itself, presents perhaps the most profound dichotomy between elegance and abrasion, in a manner that approaches a sort of traumatic urgency. “I like the completely di erent energies that they both put out. One is obviously physical, and the other more mental. They are two of my favourite models Sveta and Marusha. Both sides of the image re ect both facets of the women I paint.” In ‘Burn Cash Buy Paintings’, we see Rodier take on more explicitly topical subject matter, “‘Take the money and run’ was the rst in the series; I started by wanting to show how much cash one million Euros really is, and it is a lot! It puts a very real image to a very abstract sum for most people. Then I also started working on ‘ The Banker’ which, once nished with its drawing of the face, gave me the overall direction for the series. The character with his suit and attaché case open full of cash came naturally in the idea of the ‘banking crisis’”, Rodier goes on, “even though events around me obviously in uence my perception of the world, I usually tend to paint through feelings more than a conscious will to say something relevant to the world around me. I think that the ‘Burn Cash Buy Paintings’ series is the rst time I have actively tried to make my work pertinent my environment. ” ‘Entanglement’ is the collective title of a work spread across two di erent paintings. It represents the chaos that results from the piling up of objects in a con ned space.
Photo: Daria Meged
SERIE CITIES
EIFFEL TOWER. 2012 Oil paint, silkscreen ink on canvas. Size. 190cmX 190cm
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EIFFEL TOWER
tower is the perfect symbol of the city of Paris. Four seperate collages were produced for this painting. Each using original blueprints aswell as photographs from time of the construction of the tower. Oil paint has been applied to the canvas with a palette knife then let to dry. ( the green circle is painted with a brush. The painting is then transported to the silkscreen studio where each collage is individuellely printed once or multiple times onto the canvas using vinyl silkscreen inks.
New York City. 2011 Oil paint, silkscreen ink on canvas. Size: 180cmX 150cm
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NEW YORK CITY
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This painting is the result of a collage on NYC skyline and an oil painting. The collage is of skyscrapers falling but holding each other. They and not multiple smaller ones. Exept for the red sun which is with a brush, the treatment of the paint is with a palette knife. The number 235 is the number of the street where the artist’s studio was during his time in the city.
Details of the painting “ NYC”..
London. 2012 Oil paint, silkscreen ink on canvas. Size: 200cmX 200cm
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BATTERSEA POWER STATION For my « London» painting I chose one of my favourite landmarks: the Battersea Power Station. the painting is in Oils and ink and as the other paintings in this serie, I started with a collage of old photographs of the inside and outside of the power station. I then printed the image onto the painted canvas. For me this painting reflects on all the contradictions of this great city. It’s « grandeur» as well as its cahotic struc ture, full of colours, beauty and non- beauty which in its own way is so powerfull.
Detail of the London painting
SHANGHAI. 2012 Oil paint, silkscreen ink on canvas. Size: 190cmX 170cm
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SHANGHAI
( left )
. Third painting in the “ Cities� series, Shanghai is
this time the result of an oil painting and a collage of drawings of the city and not a collage of photos. The oil paint has been applied in such a way as to let it drip across the canvas creating thick patterns of oil paint on which is applied via silkscreen thick black ink. This time a red star is at the centre of the painting contrasting with the mainly yellow background. A small Coca Cola sign represents the west orientated economy in this, before all, communist megapole. 5
SHANGHAI
Silkscreen ink on paper canvas Size; 100cmX 70cm..
( Abstraction).
2012
Photo: Daria Meged
Artist at work Kiev studio
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Dials. 2012 Four paintings. Oil paint, silkscreen ink on canvas. Size. ( each): 100cm X 100cm
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Paris silkscreen studio
SERIE WOMEN
WOMEN. 2012 Acrylic paint, silkscreen ink on canvas. Size: 180cmX 150cm
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WOMEN (Sveta& Maryna)
. This painting is the last one of the “women�
series, painted in acrylic paints a collage is then printed with vinyl inks on top of the paint. In this painting, I use one of my favourite composition which is the repetition of an image onto one canvas. This time the (double) image is
on the non printed side of the painting, enhancing the repetitive side of the prints.
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JOHNY 2012 (with Sveta& Maryna)
Silkscreen ink on cardboard. Size: 100cmX 70cm
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The Kiss. ( Lidia). 2012 Four paintings. Oil paint, silkscreen ink on canvas. Size. ( each): 100cm X 100cm
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THE POP KISS . 2012
Silkscreen ink, oil stick on vinyl. mounted on alluminium. Size: 280cmX 110cm
The kiss with green rectangle (Lidia). 2012 Vinyl ink, acrylic and silkscreen ink on cardboard. Size: 100cmX 100cm
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THE KISS. (LIDIA)
. These two paintings are the only two not made on canvas.
The “Pop Kiss” is the combination of two series of prints. One of basic pop images and two prints in black vinyl of the image the kiss. The vinyl is then mounted on alluminium.
transfered to cardboard then the image of the kiss has been “washed” onto the cardboard. The green rectangle is painted. Precedent double page. The Kiss. (Lidia). Four paintings in oil paint and silkscreen ink on canvas.
Sex on the net. 2000 Acrylic paint, oil stick, thermochromic silkscreen ink on canvas. Size: 200cmX 150cm
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SEX ON THE NET
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collages that were printed on canvas, is printed with black vinyl ink. The caracters in the fore front are painted in acrylics then their images are printed with thermochromic inks. Which makes them react to heat. The pigments are made of liquid cristals which the temperature the canvas reaches at any point. pornographic images that the internet released in the early years. “Every body was doing it, but no one admitted it.�
SVETA. 2012 Acrylic paint, silkscreen ink on canvas. signde and dated Alain Rodier bottom right. 2012. Size: 121cmX 91cm
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SVETA
. This painting was created using
the images of the Ukrainian photographer Maryna Kutznietsova of her favourite model Sveta. Each colour facette of this unusual but beautifull model. Two paintings were made of Sveta in this serie. One with a pink background and one with a silver background. This is the silver one.
Detail painting ÂŤSvetaÂť
Artist working on The Banker. Paris
Photo: Maryna Kutznietsova
SERIES ENTANGLEMENT & BURN CASH, BUY PAINTINGS
Seriously weird galaxy. 2012 Acrylic and metallic paint, silkscreen ink on canvas. Size: 155cmX 115cm
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SERIOUSLY WEIRD GALAXY
. This painting is the second in a series of
two paintings done for the Beirut exhibition and this one is blue. Eventhough both were done as a series, the blue one was created for Europe and thus not exhibited in Lebaon. All the pictures of this collage were taken using the extensive marbles collection of a Lebanese collector. The cahos of all these through the numerous galaxies.
GUNS
. This painting is the second in a series of
two paintings done for the Beirut exhibition and this one is blue. Eventhough both were done as a series, the blue one was created for Europe and thus not exhibited in Lebaon. All the pictures of this collage were taken using the extensive gun collection of a Lebanese individual. The cahos of all these guns desarmement of the population.
Guns blue background. 2011 Acrylic and metallic paint, silkscreen ink on canvas. Size: 155cmX 115cm
SERIE ENTANGLEMENT
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Pink Gun. 2012 is part of a series that was done on weapons for an exhibition in Beirut Lebanon in 2011. This one is the only painting done this colour. The pink background is in contrast with the metallic paint and the object of the painting. The whole point of this painting is the obvious contrast. The lethal side of the Python 357 which is probably the most lethal gun in the world is highlighted by the childish colour : baby pink, of the background.
22 PINK GUN. 2012
Acrylic and metallic paint, silkscreen ink on canvas. Size: 92cmX 60cm
Paris studio. 2012
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THE BANKER
. The banker is the second collage painting in
the series “ Burn cash buy paintings”. First the canvas is painted with acrylics to give it it’s background then a collage of news paper is glued on the painted canvas then the drawing is produced using oil sticks. The canvas is then covered wooden box. This painting represents the “ banker”, subject to all the passions during
THE BANKER. 2012 Acrylic and paper collage with oil stick on canvas in plexiglass covered wood box. Size: 218cmX 157cm
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TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN
. two thousand bills of 500â‚Ź bills (replicas) amassed in no particular order but the man in the painting came to mind and the idea shifted to the concept of this man losing thousand of bills while walking away quickly. As with the then a collage of euro bill replicas are scatered and paper is added. Then the drawing is made piece.
TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN. 2012 Acrylic paint, oil stick, mixed media on canvas inside plexiglass covered wood box. Size: 218cmX 157cm
WHAT IS TRIPLE A. 2012 Acrylic paint, oil stick and paper collage on canvas. Size: 200cmX 160cm
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WHAT IS TRIPLE A ?
. What is triple A, is the only silkscreen ink on
canvas of the “Burn cash, buy paintings � series. Painted in acrylics and collaged onto canvas, the main image is of thousands of triple A batteries printed onto the paint, creating hention of the public towards the soverign dette notes..
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27600 Euros
27600 EUROS. 2011 Acrylic paint, mixed media on canvas. Size: 66cmX 51cm
(name of the painting)
Alain Rodier in front of " The Banker". Paris 2012 Photo by Maryna Kutznietsova.
EXHIBITIONS - Collections. London 1991 - Chelsea gallery. London 1992 - Bleeker gallery. NYC 1994 - Galerie Guenegaud. Paris 1995 - Saint Saviour, Chelsea London 1998 - Opera gallery. NYC 2000 - Galerie Seine 51. Paris 2001 - Air gallery, London 2003 - Chateau l’Hospitalet, France 2004 - Chinagora, Paris 2004 - V&A gallery Beirut Lebanon. 2005 -Galerie Xavier Sequier. Paris 2005 - Espace Matignon. Paris 2005 - Opera gallery. Dubai UAE. 2008 - Opera gallery monte Carlo. 2008 - Walls gallery Amsterdam Holland. 2008 - Galerie Couteron, Paris. 2011 - Galerie Raphael Imbert. Paris. 2011 - Gallery Abiaad, Beirut. Lebanon 2011 - Galerie 7. Paris 2011
INDEX
1- EIFFEL TOWER. 2012 2- NYC. 2012 3- LONDON. 2012 4- SHANGHAI. 2012 5- SHANGHAI abstraction. 2012 6-- Dials in red. 2012 7-- Dials in silver. 2012 8-- Dials in blue. 2012 9-- Dials in pink. 2012 10- Women. 2012 11- Johnny 2012 with Sveta & Marusha. 2012 12- The Kiss ( Lydia) in yellow. 2012 13- The kiss ( Lydia) in red grey and blue. 2012 14- The kiss ( Lydia) in blue. 2012 15- The kiss ( Lydia) in red. 2012 16- Pop kiss. 2012 17- The kiss ( with green rectangle). 2012 18- sex on the net. 2012 19- Sveta. 2012 20- Seriously weird galaxy. 2012 21- guns in blue. 2011 22- Pink gun. 2012 23- The banker. 2012 24- Take the money and reun. 2012 25- What is AAA. 2012 26- 27600â‚Ź. 2012
Special thanks to: Arnaud Massenet in London, Jean Jaques and Art Go Paris, Paul Wyber Amsterdam, Lena Leno Kiev, Filipp Pishik, Sacha and Jack at Start Kiev, Olga Tarantino in Kiev, Alina Chyzhevska in Kiev as well as photographers Maryna Kutznietsova and Daria Meged in Kiev, who all contributed one way or another to the making of this catalogue.
Photograph: Daria Meged
Printed in Ukraine