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ART EVENT - Paris - Benjamin Renoux @ Les Salaisons

Les Salaisons Gallery, Paris is hosting ‘L’Instant T’ an exhibition of work by Paris based artist Benjamin Renoux curated by fellow Parisian Juliette Giovannoni.

Anybody who is gong to be in Paris between the 14th October - 13th November 2011 be sure to head over and check it out. It looks like it’s going to be a good one.

Below is the press release detailing information about the artist and the exhibition.

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VERNISSAGE LE VENDREDI 14 OCTOBRE à partir de 18H.

EXPOSITION DU 14/10 au 13/11.

“Pour sa première exposition personnelle intitulée ‘L’Instant T’, Benjamin Renoux vous invite à découvrir l’évolution de ses recherches, à travers différentes séries de travaux où la photographie, la peinture et la sculpture se mêlent et s’hybrident les unes aux autres.

À l’instant T, l’image est dévoilée à un moment de crise. Il s’émane des œuvres présentées une étrange dualité esthétique inspirée de la sensualité de la peinture romantique et de la radicalité de l’art minimal.

L’artiste crée entre les médiums une relation instable, une lutte continuelle faite de paradoxes esthétiques et conceptuels. L’exposition est le théâtre de fantômes virtuels, de souvenirs à l’agonie, baignant dans une atmosphère profondément méditative . Les photographies sont les images avalées des corps qui ont été, et qui ne seront jamais plus. Sous nos yeux, l’existence angoissée, recroquevillée dans sa coquille, se dirige lentement vers l’état fossile. 

Benjamin Renoux a remporté le prix Chic Art Fair 2010.
Il vit et travaille à Paris.” J.G.

Commissariat : Juliette Giovannoni

Catalogue d’exposition : 15 euros.

Plus d’infos sur : 

http://www.benjaminrenoux. com/
http://www.salaisons.org/

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PRIVATE VIEW 14 Oct. 6pm 

Opening 14/10 to 13/11 

We are pleased to present “L’Instant T”, an exhibition of new work by Benjamin Renoux in his first solo show at the Salaisons.

“Benjamin Renoux invites you to discover the evolution of his research, through works wich combine photography, painting and sculpture. Through series of processes, the artist manipulates and distorts those mediums to explore the fragility of things as temporal elements with no fixed nature. 
The exhibition entitled “the Instant” is a meditation on the ephemeral and inevitable disapearance of things. From his work emanates a strange aesthetic duality, inspired both by the sensuality of Romantic painting and the radicality of Minimal Art. Richly influenced by historical and tradional practices, his work highlights Human being’s existence and questions its boundaries. 
The exhibition is the scene of virtual ghosts, memories in agony, symbols of the cruel fall of things into oblivion.

Benjamin Renoux won Chic Art Fair’s Prize in 2010.
He lives and works in Paris. ” J.G


Curator : Juliette Giovannoni

Exhibition’s Catalogue: 15 euros.

https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=148779001883727

Georges Seurat (1859-1891)
‘Le Labourage’ (The Plowing), 1882-1883
Conté crayon - 24.5 x 32 cm
Paris, Musée d’Orsay

The Missing Ingredient…

This afternoon I had a little wander around the Musée d’Orsey (no I don’t mean Dorset spell check - although I’m sure the Dorset County Museum is a lovely place). Whilst there I realised what is missing from my life… Rather than being the man who has it all, I realised my life in fact contained a massive Art Nouveau Bed shaped hole.

I find it hard to imagine at some point in my life not being the proud owner (or at least co-owner) of one of these magnificent creatures.

Above is  is an undoubtable throne of a bed by Eugene Vallin and below is a fine specimen by Louis Majorelle.

I would never leave my wonderful Art Nouveau bed.

Centre Pompidou - “maybe she’s just mental”

Today I had my first foray into the Parisian cultural scene – being unfamiliar with the city I stayed well on the beaten track and headed for the established art world favourite the Centre Pompidou.

They currently have an excellent exhibition Edvard Munch: The Modern Eye (Sept 21 2011 – Jan 9 2012). Rather than going down the traditional Munch route of the solitary, tormented soul we all associate with works such as The Scream, the curators have tried a different approach presenting the artist as a man with a keen eye for progress and somebody quick to embrace new technologies in a progressive and ever changing art world. There are lots of photographs, the majority of these being self-portraits in which we see Munch experimenting with new developments in photography and there are also a number of his amateur films of which I was unfamiliar prior to this visit but greatly enjoyed.  There are also some more familiar painted works, but the curators have split them up thematically exploring his obsession with repetition, his later life eye problems and his interest in scientific advancement such as radiowaves and X-Ray.

The Munch exhibition was good, but being a first time Pompidou visitor I was more enthralled by the permanent collection and buzzed round the floors like an excited child. There were some old faves such as Gerhard Richter’s ‘1024 Farben (305-3)’ (1973), Hans Richter’s tour de force ‘Rhythm 21’, Warhols, Picassos, Rothkos, you get the idea…  but I was particularly happy to see the inclusion of some David Byrne… that’s right Talking Heads videos are now officially art and there for I can justifiably post them here… so here they are – The wonderful Once in a Lifetime and equally fantastic The Road To Nowhere.

New discovery of the trip: Rineke Dijkstra’s ‘I see a woman crying (Weeping Woman)’ in which the artist filmed a group of Liverpudlian school children looking at Picasso’s Weeping Woman – with the children offering up their ideas on why the woman is weeping – “maybe she is crying because she is happy like they do when they win X-Factor”, “maybe her mum has died”, “maybe she is just mental”. 

Starkus Carcass in Paris

Next week Starkus Carcass is upping sticks and moving to Paris -

Scotland treated me well - I have had a bit of a blogging lull over the past few weeks since my grand return to Milton Keynes (my sincerest apologies) but hopefully over the coming weeks and months I can update you on the art world in Paris and beyond ….

watch this space…

As yet I am unfamiliar with the city of Paris so any tips on where to go and what to see in the art sphere from all you cultured folk -  just email the above email address (referencing Starkus Carcass in the subject line)

… merci.

Dropping Like Flies

I was sad to hear about the death of Richard Hamilton yesterday - yet another loss for the art world following the recent deaths of Cy Twombly and Lucian Freud - 2011 seems to be a popular year to go. 

 

Richard Hamilton obituary - The Guardian (13/09/11)

Link to all my reviews for ThreeWeeks 2011 (bar a few that have still to be uploaded)

ART LATE @ Edinburgh Art Festival (TONIGHT 25th Aug)

Come to ART LATE tonight. 

Loads of galleries are taking part:

• Ingleby
• Solar Pavillion
• Open Eye
• Bourne Fine Art
• Tamsyn Challenger
• Collective
• Stills
• City Art Centre
• Edinburgh Printmakers
• Sierra Metro

Starting with magic by Ali Cooke at Ingleby Gallery and ending with a Micachu DJ set at the 400 Women exhibition - it looks great.

Book your FREE ticket here: http://edinburghartfestivalartlate.eventbrite.com/

ThreeWeeks2011 Exhibitions Review: Anish Kapoor: Flashback

Kapoor is an artist at the top of his game. ‘Flashback’ is a small exhibition, featuring only two works, but the two complement each other perfectly. The first is an early work entitled ‘White Sand, Red Millet, Many Flowers’ (1982), a collection of four pigment sculptures. These are at once natural in appearance and abstract, and seem so fragile that one could imagine a small gust of wind blowing them away. Juxtaposed against this is ‘Untitled’ (2010). At over 5 metres tall this giant blood-red “self-generating” wax sculpture couldn’t be more different from the former work and highlights the artistic development of Kapoor’s career. Be sure to head up to the balcony to appreciate the great view from above.

Edinburgh College of Art, 4 Aug – 9 Oct, 10.00am (5.00pm), free, fpp n/a. 

tw rating 4/5

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Link

Reopening of National Museum of Scotland

A review I wrote for The Skinny -

It was a scene that would have had Jeff Goldblum’s heart racing. A little after 9am, on a temperate Friday morning in Edinburgh, a Tyrannosaurus Rex came rampaging down Chambers Street.

Thankfully this particular T-Rex was not real – not like that time Richard Attenborough funded that ill fated off shore ‘Dinosaur Theme Park’ – this one was animatronic. It was joined by a tribal drumming troupe, abseiling human statues, pyrotechnics and a Victorian attired Grant Stott. The pomp and fanfare was all in aid of the reopening of the National Museum of Scotland after its £47 million refurbishment project.

This long overdue revamp has done away with the archaic Victorian style displays that museum goers had long tired of and replaced everything with the latest in design and technology. From Ancient Egyptians to Morris Minors, telecommunications to hanging hippos, the loot of all nations is gathered under one roof. Now housing over 8,000 objects, many on display for the first time since the museum opened in 1888, there is something for anyone with an inquisitive mind.

Perfectly timed for the beginning of the Edinburgh Festival, and slap bang in the middle of the school holidays, don’t expect a quiet stroll about the museum just yet. The size of the museum will no doubt require a number of trips to soak it all in, and if the festival begins to pull on your purse strings, it offers a convenient free-entry get away to get lost in for the afternoon.

400 Women @ Canongate Venture, Edinburgh Art Festival

Below is a short review I wrote for ThreeWeeks magazine:

400 Women Tamsyn Challenger

‘400 Women’ is not easy viewing, but then, it is not intended to be. The exhibition attempts to highlight the devastation caused by the abduction and murder of thousands of women in the Mexican region of Ciudad Juárez. Over 200 hundred artists have been brought together to make portraits of just a small fraction of these missing and murdered women. Each portrait tells a highly personal story – one that invariably has an unhappy ending. The setting—a disused and dilapidated school building—adds another poignant dimension, drawing attention to the young age of many of these women and a deep sense of loss. The exhibition is not light-hearted, but successfully draws attention to gender violence in Mexico and across the globe.
Canongate Venture, 4 Aug - 4 Sep (closed Mondays), 11.00am (6.00pm), free, fpp189. 
tw rating 4/5 
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http://www.edinburghartfestival.com/exhibitions/2011/tamsyn_challenger/