Two exhibitions
dal 7/11/2008 al 5/12/2008
Segnalato da
7/11/2008
Two exhibitions
Galerie Magda Danysz, Paris
Botto e Bruno promote today's suburbia together with its culture, as they claim: "Art enables us to express doubt on the widespread cliche' that suburbs are only negative places, with no possibility whatsoever of social recognition.", they explore the realms of photomontage, drawing, collage, installations, video, theatre, and music as well. Mireille Loup's photographs show things without ever naming them. In the Nocturnes ou les garcons perdus series, she brings us into an oneiric world.
Botto e Bruno
Solo Show
They’re just back from the Château d’Eau, where they presented a giant panoramic photograph at the Printemps de Semptembre in Toulouse; now Botto e Bruno are in Paris for their first solo show at the Magda Danysz gallery. What’s impressive is this duo’s versatility: they explore the realms of photomontage, drawing, collage, installations, video, theatre, and music as well. These Italian artists grew up in Torino, and were witnesses of the spreading suburbs and the obsolescence of industrial neighborhoods. That’s where their artistic work all started : they find their inspiration in empty industrial zones, with buildings in more or less advanced states of ruin, and deserted streets…
They then populate them with young characters from the grunge, indie, and garage culture, highly recognizable thanks to their hoodies, records, and magazines. These suburbian protagonists, cocooned in their musical world, reassure us about the abandoned outskirts if the city. Botto e Bruno promote today’s suburbia together with its culture, as they claim: “Art enables us to express doubt on the widespread cliché that suburbs are only negative places, with no possibility whatsoever of social recognition.”
However, be it with video, photography, or collage, far from capturing a fleeting moment, Botto e Bruno are wary of the objectivity images may seem to foster. That’s why they recreate totally original suburb landscapes, by editing, adding, superimposing, and scotch-taping. They purposely leave a tangible trace of the decomposition and remodelling they go through to obtain their final work. In this exhibition, we can fully appreciate the diveristy of the Torino artists’ talents : four installations combine video, an audio tape and the matching words, and they’re surrounded by an urban set, composed of their real-size photographs, genuine stubs (on garde trompe-l’oeil?) that cover the gallery walls and part of the floor. More than quality plastic work and a good combination of media, Botto e Bruno’s work is first and foremost a reflexion on today’s urban society : “Only on the outskirts of the city can you find real life ; the problems and questions of contemporary life develop in the suburbs.”
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Mireille Loup
Nocturnes ou les garçons perdus, 2006-2007
It offers night-time getaways in a childhood environment. Two "garçons perdus", lost boys, are wandering through Neverland in pyjamas. The nocturnal atmosphere look more like sets than natural landscapes: the unreal light and colors stimulate the imaginary, sometimes simulating a theatrical cardboard set.
To make these photomontages, Mireille Loup was inspired by James Matthew Barnie's work, Peter Pan. However, no Captain Hook here. Mireille Loup was more keen on illustrating the first of the writer's sources of inspiration: the accidental and traumatising death of an older brother that made little James' mother miserable. In order to comfort her, James wore his older brother's clothes, and as a result the pained mother thought she was seeing her dead son instead of James. James grew up crushed by a sibling that drew more attention gone that James present. That's how Peter Pan was born.
In Nocturnes ou les garçons perdus, you can see a little boy accompanied by a pre-adolescent one, who waits for him, protects him, but isn't the main character. Sometimes he isn't even in the photo. Thus Mireille Loup shows things without naming them explicitely; she leaves the obvious suffering behind and invites us to take a stroll amidst children's tales and dreams.
Mireille Loup's photographs are full of a certain shyness ad modesty, they show things without ever naming them. In the Nocturnes ou les garcons perdus series, she brings us into an oneiric world. Two young boys, probably lost, are wandering through a peotry-filled universe. This photographer, videographer, and writer has exposed in numerous galeries and institutions in France, Belgium, Portugal, Greece, Canada and the United States. You can find her photographs in public collections such as the Nation Fund for Contemporary Art. She represents the new generation of artists who manages to grasp reality and transcend it with commitment.
Image: Botto e Bruno
Opening on saturday Nov 8th, from 6 to 9PM
Galerie Magda Danysz
78, rue Amelot - Paris 11
open from monday to friday from 11 AM to 7 PM and saturday from 2 PM to 7 PM