On the Surface of the Infinite
dal 19/2/2009 al 17/4/2009
Segnalato da
19/2/2009
On the Surface of the Infinite
La Galerie - Contemporary Art Centre, Noisy-le-Sec
The exhibition explores the connections between abstraction and the imaginary dimension through work - created especially for the exhibition or being shown for the first time in France - by five European artists: Becky Beasley, Etienne Chambaud, Graham Gussin, Hugo Pernet and Kathrin Sonntag. On display are painting, collage, sculpture, slideshow, photography and video.
“On the Surface of the Infinite” explores the connections between abstraction and the
imaginary dimension through work – created especially for the exhibition or being
shown for the first time in France – by five European artists: Becky Beasley, Etienne
Chambaud, Graham Gussin, Hugo Pernet and Kathrin Sonntag. Taking as starting
point a major video installation created in 2001 by British artist Graham Gussin, the
exhibition embraces different forms – painting, collage, sculpture, slideshow,
photography and video – in five separate spaces, as each artist engages dialogue
through a distinctly personal approach.
Whether suggestive of a theory about the geometry of the universe or simply of a
science fiction novel, the exhibition’s title immediately asserts the narrative and
imaginative scope of the twenty-five works gathered together here. More than
connections between the hereafter and the world of appearances, “On the Surface of
the Infinite” proposes a possible artistic link between two contradictory terms: infinity,
a space-time historically infused with romanticism, and surface, which suggests the
perceived coldness of Minimalism.
In a reassessment of a history of abstraction stretching from monochrome to the
forms of Minimalist sculpture, the works in the exhibition certainly include "surfaces",
but their apparent opacity is in marked contrast with their evocative power. At once
closed and open, they take on a kind of silence which renders them all the more
mysterious. Like any work of art, they espouse a degree of hermeticism, which opens
them up to a range of interpretations.
Becky Beasley's works take the form of boxes or shelves whose content, replaced
by a bottomless, black, reflective surface, remains to be imagined. In Graham
Gussin's work, monochrome becomes a screen, encouraging mental projection,
while for Hugo Pernet it heralds a possible image to come after a conjectured end of
painting. Etienne Chambaud creates tautologies that repeatedly reinterpret his own
drafts and works, and Kathrin Sonntag builds images within images out of
photographic archives and everyday objects whose abstract quality signals a kind of
strangeness.
Their contemporary character means that these works deliberately bring the infinite to
the surface, that is to say to form – to the level of appearances in the real world.
However taking this surface as an integral element of the work in no way reduces its
scope. An opaque border, the surface can also mutate into a screen, a mirror or a
black hole. Made of such “loaded” abstractions, “what we see” opens out on to fresh
perceptions.
Opening night Friday 20 February 6-9pm
Press preview 5-6pm
The artists will be present
On the evening of the opening, a free shuttle will leave Paris (Place de la République, Metro
République, exit Rue du Temple) at 7:00pm. Return to Paris: 9:30pm. No reservation required, seating
subject to availability.
La Galerie - Contemporary Art Centre
1 rue Jean-Jaures - Noisy-le-Sec
Opening hours: from Tuesday to Friday: from 2 - 6pm, Saturday: from 2 7pm
Entry to La Galerie is free.