PRESS KIT
SERVANE MARY
‘‘BABYLISS’’ Exhibition from 8 to 24 september and for 18 october to 5 november 2016
Opening thursday 8 september 2016, from 6pm
Servane Mary, Untitled (Zurich), 2016 - Inkjet Print on Enamel Painted Steel, 48 x 46 x 7 1/2 inches
PRESS RELATIONS AGENCE COMMUNIC’ART
Lindsey Marsh lmarsh@communicart.fr 01.43.20.13.14
PRESS RELEASE
SERVANE MARY
‘‘BABYLISS’’ Exhibition from 8 to 24 september and for 18 october to 5 november 2016
Opening thursday 8 september 2016, from 6pm
Servane Mary, Untitled (Tambourine), 2016 - Inkjet Print on Copper, 48 x 65 x 9 inches
‘‘Babyliss,” the second personal exhibition of Servane Mary at Triple V gallery, will be an occasion for the artist to present an ensemble of new works: photographs of women riding motorbikes blown up in size and then printed on metal. The work is set in pleats, hence the title referring to the famous curling iron which was a sensation in the 1980s. The structures ripple in steel or copper that serve as the photo’s support; through this passage into the three dimensions, they suggest a “reverse-side” of the image, and the possibility to access its other side or depth. These new works are inscribed into the continuity of recent work from Servane Mary in which the artist transfers found photos (principally portraits of women from 1940 to 1970) onto unexpected materials with unusual printing techniques. We can experience the original significance of this imagery as well as our own perception of these images today. Servane Mary was born in 1971. She lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. A catalogue will accompany the exhibition in September 2016.
PRESS KIT
IN CONVERSATION WITH SERVANE MARY Tell us about the title of the exposition “Babyliss” which returns to the imagery of women and consumerization. Is there a new reference to your pop inspiration? The title refers to the name given to the curling iron that was popular in the 1960s and that women used to curl their hair. It is a reference to the wavy reliefs of the works that are going to be presented during the exposition in September at Triple V gallery. I trace the title back to Olivier Mosset, who on seeing the pieces in the New York studio, told me that he’s made a canvas in a similar form (the curves were in a horizontal sense contrary, as opposed to mine that are vertical) and that Sylvie Fleury had named Babyliss.
In her works, Servane Mary draws on the image of women’s representation throughout history. One of her prefered techniques is printing on Mylar and pasting it on the back of plexiglass, vinyl, acetate or glass.
What works are you going to show during “Babyliss?” There will be pieces in metal: copper, painted steel (similar to the bodywork of a car), and aluminum. The sheets were inkjet printed when flat and then sent to the metal studio to be curved. They are printed with recuperated images from the 1950s of women motorcyclists. You have worked for a long time with light supports: silk, Mylar… How do you consider the movement to a rigid support such as those presented for “Babyliss,” copper or metal? Is there a link between the support and the subject? It always operates on the rapport between the choice of the image and the material on which I transfer it. Previously in the the use of silk as survival blankets or in glass, I transferred the images of women working in ammunition factories during WWII, activists or even cowgirls who reflected strength and fragility at the same time. The temporality of the position of women when they are given a certain power is a question I often ask in my work. The use of more solid materials gives me a much bigger satisfaction in terms of preservation and durability. It involves a stronger link than collective history and its preservation. You started as a painter, and today, you work with printing techniques. What continuity do you express between painting and the medium practiced today? My first paintings, after finishing the National School of Decorative Arts in Paris, were large oil canvases painted from my own photos. I then abandoned the use of private photos to begin using press photos. I always worked with images; it’s the only the medium that has changed. At the start, painting was a natural extension from what I had learned at school. It took me a certain amount of time to abandon. But 6 months after moving to New York, I realised that painting did not make sense for me because I was no longer interested in the medium. My interest was carried by the image. I started to work with the printed image, and I continued to put in place this sort of archive on which I still work today in an act of “refiguration.”
PRESS KIT
SERVANE MARY Servane Mary is working with appropriated press images of women from the 1940s, to the ‘70s, some of whom are heroes of her, some who are seen as anti-heroes, who are often misunderstood or mis-represented. This act of «re-figuration» explores the connections between representation, identity, history and memory, and in which she treats photographs as physical entities. They reveal traces of the passage of time, fading and deterioration, a surface that parallels our own recollection and the human mind. They are carried on materials and supports that encourage a reevaluation of the subjects, allow for the inclusion of the viewer, and destabilize the idea of a fixed position vis-a-vis our place in the world.
Exhibitions selection 2016
Group show at 5 rue du Mail, Triple V, Paris Inauguration at 5 rue du Mail, Triple V, Paris
2015
‘‘American Cowgirls of the 40’s’’, Kayne Griffin Corcoran Gallery, Los Angeles ‘‘OMM’’, with Olivier Mosset and Virginia Overton, 138 Eldridge Street, New York ‘‘Mary / Miller / Mosset / Overton’’, Triple V, Paris
2014
‘‘Servane Mary / Olivier Mosset / Virginia Overton’’, A Palazzo gallery, Brescia. ‘‘The Museum of Love and Devotion’’, organized by Jason Metcalf, Fairview Museum of History and Art, Utah (USA) ‘‘Scripted Space’’, Martos gallery, Los Angeles ‘‘Another, Once Again, Many Time More’’, four parts by Walead Beshty and Kelley Walker; Carol Bove; Ryan Foerster; Bob Nickas and Virginia Overton, Martos Gallery summer location, East – Marion, New-York ‘‘Shakti’’, Brand New Gallery, Milan
2013
‘‘Things Are What They Seem’’, Triple V, Paris FIAC, stand Triple V, Paris ‘‘Piston Head’’, Venus Over Manhattan, Miami ‘‘Car Show’’, 11 11 Lincoln Road, Venus Over Manhattan, Miami ‘‘Arsenio’’, curated by James Cope, Shoot the Lobster, Luxembourg. ‘‘Hymns For Mr.Suzuki’’, organized by Karen Archey, Abrons Center, New York ‘‘Objekt Underscore Object’’, organized by James Cope, Artaida, New York ‘‘No Place Like You’’, curated by Peter Scott, Shoot the Lobster , New York ‘‘Rock Art & the X-ray Style’’, a proposal by Ryan Foerster, Brooklyn, New York ‘‘LAT. 41° 7‘ N. LONG. 72° 19‘W.’’, curated by Bob Nickas, East Marion, New York ‘‘Galaxie 500’’, with Jacob Kassay and Olivier Mosset, Swiss Institute, New York
PRESS KIT
VISUALS AVAILABLE FOR THE PRESS
Servane Mary, Untitled (Woods), 2016 Inkjet Print on Enamel Painted Steel 48 x 55 x 9 inches
Servane Mary, Untitled (Zurich), 2016 Inkjet Print on Enamel Painted Steel 48 x 46 x 7 1/2 inches
PRESS KIT
VISUALS AVAILABLE FOR THE PRESS
Servane Mary, Untitled (Tambourine), 2016 Inkjet Print on Copper 48 x 65 x 9 inches
Servane Mary, Untitled (Lipstick), 2016 Inkjet Print on Enamel Painted Steel 48 x 46 x 7 1/2 inches
PRESS KIT
OTHER VISUALS AVAILABLE FOR THE PRESS Servane Mary, Two Women on a Fence, 2015 Glass, Inkjet print on perforated window film 52 1/2 x 34 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches
Servane Mary, Untitled (Woman and Child on a Horse), 2015 Plexiglas tube, inkjet print on film 141 x 30,5 x 30,5 cm
Servane Mary, Untitled (Julie Newman), 2013 Solvent transfer on tights, photographic plate 21,7 x 10 cm
Servane Mary, Untitled (Elaine, Pyramid), 2013 Pigment printed silk, wood, aluminium chain 85 x 99 inches
PRESS KIT
AN ADDITIONAL SPACE FOR GALERIE TRIPLE V 5 rue du mail - paris 2ème
On 4th February 2016, Galerie Triple V inaugurated its second exhibition space on 5, rue du Mail, in the second arrondissement of Paris close to Place des Victoires.
Inaugurale exhibition view rue du Mail Photo by André Morin Made up of a vast hall of 30m long and 13m wide, a total surface area of 500m2 with a ceiling height of 4m, this new exhibition space finds itself in an old fabric factory, and preserves the industrial aspect. It is in this highly creative area that the gallery can bring its resolutely contemporary touch to a privileged space which also sees the instalment of its first contemporary art gallery. Galerie Triple V has been working since 2007 to present both French and international contemporary artists from various generations and aesthetic horizons to abstract, conceptual, pop and minimalist approaches. Developed in partnership with art dealer Laurent Strouk, this new space will allow Galerie Triple V to take its support and collection of artists to a higher level, enriched by the arrival of two new artists: Alex Brown and Lauren Montaron. PRACTICAL INFORMATION GALERIE TRIPLE V 5, rue du Mail 75002 Paris info@triple-v.fr +33 (0)1.45.84.08.36 Open from Tuesday to Saturday from 11am to 7pm
PRESSE RELATION AGENCE COMMUNIC’ART
Lindsey Marsh lmarsh@communicart.fr +33 (0)1.43.20.12.13
UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS AND FAIRS
Le tour de l’exposition // 7 - 24 July 2016 Fiac //20 to 23 October 2016