FIAC 2o15
MEHDI CHOUAKRI
SAÂDANE AFIF JOHN M ARMLEDER N. DASH PHILIPPE DECRAUZAT MARTIN DISLER HANS-PETER FELDMANN SYLVIE FLEURY MATHIEU MERCIER GEROLD MILLER CHARLOTTE POSENENSKE GERWALD ROCKENSCHAUB PETER ROEHR SALVO GITTE SCHÄFER LUCA TREVISANI
SAÂDANE AFIF La Leçon de géométrie, 2015 Knotted wool and archival pigment print on paper mounted on Dibond Carpet 311 x 200 cm /122.4 x 78.7 in Photograph 119 x 86 cm / 46.8 x 33.8 in Unique piece Production consultant: Mustapha Hansali Production: Le Maroc Blanc Design
La Leçon de géométrie is emblematic of the multiplicity of forms an artwork can take in Afif’s vision. For the 2013 Marrakech Biennial, Afif taught a geometry class each evening at the Jamaa El Fna square in the city. By reducing it to basic references such as circle, square, point, or line, these lessons became ultimate ready-mades. Instead of a blackboard, the courses were written on large sheets of a flip board, which eventually became models for rugs. These drawings were the transcripts of the performance, which are now being translated into wool, following traditional Moroccan techniques. This is the first carpet produced from the series and it comes with a high-end print of the original drawing.
PHILIPPE DECRAUZAT Untitled, 2015 Acrylic on canvas 100 x 100 cm / 39.4 x 39.4 in Unique piece Certificate signed by the artist
Philippe Decrauzat is fascinated by movement and by the human perception of it. He finds inspiration in scientific and artistic research, in photography, but also, beyond fine arts, in cinema as well as sound. Relying upon an extensive visual vocabulary built from the legacy of Geometric Abstraction, he seamlessly blends a palette of optical effects to “investigate the status of the image.” This Untitled painting incorporates the new developments of the Slow Motion series. The vertical lines are interrupted by horizontal ones, creating a check pattern fading from yellow to white. These additional stripes disrupt the usually quiet balance of Decrauzat’s composition, building a new dynamic.
JOHN M ARMLEDER Horse chestnuts, 2014 Mixed media on canvas 190 x 190 x 4 cm / 74.8 x 74.8 x 1.6 in Unique piece Signed verso, upper left, with black marker: John Armleder 2014 Horse chestnuts
Since the early 1980's, John M Armleder's paintings have been very much related to the post-modern era by reusing well-known avant-garde aesthetics. Armleder appropriates existing forms as quotes in order to focus on the semantic shift of the once radical avant-garde concepts and techniques in the era of post-modernism. For his Puddle Paintings series he pours different kinds of paints onto a lying canvas, using both randomness and control, hence referring to abstract expressionism while neglecting its underlying existentialist content. The titles are attributed arbitrary, so it is interesting that it almost becomes a tautology in this particular case. The artist, a dandy with a dada誰st spirit, stands as a painter without a brush.
MATHIEU MERCIER 3 axis, 3 spheres, 2015 Wood, marble, rubber, cork 33 x 69 x 25 cm / 13 x 27.2 x 9.8 in Unique piece Signed with pencil on back of wooden element
This sculpture is a study built from the legacy of Constructivism and Formalism, which may be evocative of El Lissitzky’s structures. It was assembled with recycled elements Mathieu Mercier found in his studio: wood, aluminium and plastic, actually leftovers from other artworks. In a playful way, he creates a still life at the junction between the do-it-yourself and the ready made, in an attempt to reveal the influence of the early 20th century avant-gardes on today’s consumerism. The shape determines three axes, defining its own space in relation to the architecture of the room, hence inviting the viewer to reflect on the space surrounding him.
HANS-PETER FELDMANN Boy with cut out head Oil on canvas 79.5 x 69.5 cm / 31.3 x 27.4 in
For years, Hans-Peter Feldmann has been collecting original oil paintings from the 19th century, mainly portraits. By cutting out the face of the sitter, Feldmann shifts the genre from traditional depiction to a post-modern caricature. Beyond an iconoclasm steeped in the legacy of Dada, this series compares the aesthetic ideals of the 19th century against ours, revealing our present connection to images.
N. DASH Untitled, 2015 Adobe, oil, acrylic, graphite, gesso, canvas, linen, string, nail, wood support 69 x 238 cm / 27.2 x 93.7 in Unique piece Signature: bottom right
N. Dash’s paintings employ an expanded range of common materials: cloth, oil, dirt and pigment. The dirt takes the form of adobe, a traditional building material, gathered from the New Mexico desert. It functions as a foundation within the paintings, in which the other constituent elements are hung, layered, joined and broken into fields that both cover and reveal. These works correspond to and are contingent upon the architecture of the space in which they are displayed. The paintings thus combine atmospheric and structured elements, their legibility unfolding from multiple vantage points.
GERWALD ROCKENSCHAUB 3 coloured acrylic sheets, metal screws, washer, 2015 each 13 x 13 x 0.9 cm / 5.1 x 5.1 x 0.4 in each unique pieces each certificate signed by the artist
Since the mid 1980s, Gerwald Rockenschaub has collected an extensive cache of reductionist geometric forms, colour concepts, computer animated loops and industrial techniques which he uses to realise his personal visual vocabulary in a range of media. His work mirrors the culture of logos, the pictorial symbols of our contemporary visual culture, which communicate traffic signs, product advertising or optical guidance systems. This particular work is characteristic of Rockenschaub’s analytical strategy and reduced palette of materials. By overlapping several layers of perspex more or less translucent, he builds a sort of camouflage, both unveiling and covering these new shapes. The visible screws, which belong to the composition, emphasize the artist’s structural approach.
LUCA TREVISANI Notes for dried and living bodies, 2015 UV print on dried leaves, framed 88 x 81 cm / 34.6 x 31.8 in Unique piece Certificate signed by the artist
Luca Trevisani's work focuses on natural phenomena such as transplantation, addition or movement, creating images and sculptures that redefine the notion of scientific research as artistic and visual practice. Trevisani's new series "Notes for dried and living bodies" are prints of floral patterns on dried exotic leaves, mounted in a traditional wooden frame, reminiscing of the displays in a natural history museum. They are a reflection about nature and artifacts, and the thin line that separates them.
GEROLD MILLER set. 291, 2015 set. 292, 2015 Aluminium, lacquered each 39 x 31.2 x 2.5 cm / 15.3 x 12.3 x 1 in each unique pieces Each signed verso, lower middle: G. Miller 2015
Gerold Miller’s series set. represents a shift in the work of an artist concerned with the most fundamental questions of sculpture, relief and painting. For the first time, he closes his sculptures completely to create a rectangular wall object that resembles a painting. Each piece presents an identical subject, elaborated in different combinations of high-gloss car lacquer. Where an empty space used to be in his previous series, a rectangular sheet seems to float over the surface, casting a shadow on it and creating a three dimensional effect. These visually concise, monochromatic works show Miller’s further development of a vibrant combination of painting and sculpture, using high tech materials that originate in industrial production.
CHARLOTTE POSENENSKE Series B Reliefs, 1967-2015 6 elements, aluminium, concavely and convexly angled, sprayed standard RAL matt yellow each 100 × 50 × 14 cm / 39.4 x 19.7 x 5.5 in Authorised reconstruction certified by the estate
Charlotte Posenenske's relief series consist of individual stereometric elements, which can be combined in various configurations, giving the person dealing with them the freedom to build one’s own sculpture. In opposition to the “conventional sculpture” which shape is prescribed by the artist, Posenenske's modular system allows multiple opportunities of presentation. This concept was meant to question the notion of authorship as well as the role of art in society, and to allow for an active participation of the beholder. The Series B Relief can be presented as wall objects or floor pieces, hung horizontally or vertically, indoors or outdoors.
SYLVIE FLEURY Dark & Deep, 2003 Ostrich feather boa, acrylic glass 114.5 x 37 x 38.5 cm / 45.1 x 14.6 x 15.2 in Unique piece Certificate signed by the artist
Suspended in what the artist calls "an erect hanging position," Sylvie Fleury presents a luxurious ostrich feather boa as a blend of male and female sexual symbolism. By placing it behind the confines of an acrylic box, Fleury at once heightens our desire for the unattainable, sexually charged object and exhibits it like a timeless and exotic anthropological relic from the long lost world of dead fashion trends.
Front cover: Hans-Peter Feldmann Boy with cut out head (detail) Title page: Philippe Decrauzat Untitled, 2015 (detail) Opposite page: Saâdane Afif Souvenir (poster), 2014 Screen print on paper 99 x 139 cm / 39 x 54.7 in Edition of 20 Signed, numbered and stamped verso Back cover: John M Armleder Horse chestnuts, 2014 (detail)
This catalogue was published on the occasion of Fiac Paris October 22 to 25, 2015 Booth 0.C16 – also available as eBook on www.mehdi-chouakri.com Booth design by David Saik, Berlin Photographs by Nat Ward, New York Jan Windszus, Berlin Jens Ziehe, Berlin All works © the artists and courtesy Mehdi Chouakri Gallery 1000 copies Printed by Spree Druck, Berlin
Galerie Mehdi Chouakri Invalidenstrasse 117 10115 Berlin T + 49 30 28 39 11 53 F + 49 30 28 39 11 54 galerie@mehdi-chouakri.com www.mehdi-chouakri.com