0907
dal 8/9/2003 al 25/10/2003
Segnalato da
8/9/2003
0907
Swiss Institute - Old location, New York
Faced with disenchantment, for some time now artists have been digging into the enchanted world of merchandise and logos to find their inspiration. Francis Baudevin, Nic Hess and Mathieu Mercier navigate fluently through this world. The first imposes a drastic operation of abstractions on these objects; the second maneuvers them with flourish and frenzy; and the third treats them with a deference usually reserved for the great masters of modernity.
Francis Baudevin, Nic Hess and Mathieu Mercier
The SI opens next Tuesday, the 9th, for our Fall Show, '0907'
please join us for a reception with the artists from 6 - 8 PM
Faced with disenchantment, for some time now artists have been digging
into the enchanted world of merchandise and logos to find their inspiration.
FRANCIS BAUDEVIN, NIC HESS and MATHIEU MERCIER navigate fluently through
this world. The first imposes a drastic operation of abstractions on these
objects; the second maneuvers them with flourish and frenzy; and the third
treats them with a deference usually reserved for the great masters of
modernity.
Each artist is working within his own method of sampling. In that way, 0907
could be seen as three separate proposals forming three small exhibitions.
However all three come together in 0907, as though they are working towards
a common Esperanto of Logos.
The paring down of corporate identities into geometric wall paintings by
Francis Baudevin is a Spartan counterpoint to the energy of Nic Hess's work:
sprawling wall-based collages of logos and emblems, repeated in geometric more
free-form patterns where logos begin to creep along the walls and become
animated.
Mathieu Mercier considers the history of design, the worlds of science fiction
and bricolage with the same respect as the great legacy of the avant-garde.
FRANCIS BAUDEVIN lives in Geneva where he works with graphic design from
industrial packaging, reducing images to their basic elements of form and color.
Painting both on canvas and on the wall, his works have an abstract appearance,
but are still representational in the sense that he is reproducing images that
are just on the other side of recognizable.
NIC HESS is based in Zurich and Mexico City. He borrows images from the world of
consumerism and advertising to create lush wall paintings using colored adhesive
tape. Universally understandable logos and icons of industrial brands gain new
meaning through Hess's juxtapositions and visionary combinations.
MATHIEU MERCIER, based in Paris and recipient of the 2003 Prix Marcel Duchamp,
is interested in the relationship between contemporary mass-produced consumer
objects and their relationship to the history of twentieth century art and
design.
Using both household and industrial materials, he recreates the utopian ideals
of
the historical avant-garde with a contemporary sensibility, recycling everyday
objects into recognizable canons of art history.
Image: a work by Mathieu Mercier
September 9 - October 25, 2003
opening reception: September 9, 6 - 8 pm
Swiss Institute - Contemporary Art
495 Broadway
New York