calendario eventi  :: 

X

11/4/2012

C.K.Wilde

JAS Gallery, Paris

From 12 April to 26 May, Alec and Jessy Sellem will offer a solo show at JAS Gallery devoted to C.K. Wilde entitled "The Spirit of the Stairs". Born in 1972, this American artist is known for his collages, coloured patchworks which he makes with multiple elements such as tickets, stamps, labels, etc., but he has a preference for bank notes. In an era where the Visa card, on-line transactions, and electronic money are king, C.K. Wilde reclaims the bank note, cuts it up, trims it, folds it, and diverts it from its normal use to make it into an artistic medium.

C.K. Wilde has been fascinated by bank notes ever since his childhood, when he travelled to Europe to visit relatives. He still remembers when, upon returning to the United States after a stay in Germany, he came to the rude awakening of the relativity of money after having his Deutsche Mark declined for the purchase of a piece of candy. Since then, his numerous treks to the four corners of the world have allowed him to diversify his collection considerably. The artist explains: "The material qualities of bank notes are extraordinary: remarkable paper and printing, a patina caused by wear, an incredible variety of colours and textures, and a quantity of icons and symbols to recompose and recontextualize. These images symbolize power and politics, as well as liberty and slavery, or war, for which money is known to be the nerve." For his works, which often raise questions about politics, society, culture, and economics, C.K. Wilde uses bank notes from the world over, sometimes even from countries where they are no longer in use. Francs, liras, kopeks, drachmas… there isn't a single currency unpleasing to his eyes!

"Money… money is everywhere, but not a penny left to spend!", deplores C. K. Wilde. But the artist plays the provocation card by poking fun at the face value of bank notes. Since each element used in his works is not there by chance, the artist takes it to heart when choosing bank notes, to establish correlations between the themes he addresses and the countries represented by their currencies. While calling into question the very fundaments of all-powerful finance and the divisions it creates, not to mention the personality cult which bank notes can convey, C.K. Wilde creates compositions whose beauty resides in their detail.

Because C.K. Wilde also breathes life back into tickets, stamps, or labels; JAS Gallery will present a series of works demonstrating his technical skill in juxtaposing an incalculable number of paper fragments. His figurative collages reinterpret paintings passed down from art history, mythological figures, mythologies, cartographies, elements of popular imagery such as the Bibendum or photographs, such as for The Great Crash (2005) inspired by an image from 1848 showing a train accident in Paris.

The work of C.K. Wilde has been shown in numerous international exhibitions; his collages are found in several private and public collections, including the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum and MoMA in New York, as well as the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. …and do not forget the exhibition “This Side UP” of Jasmine Bertusi, until the 24th march at the JAS Gallery which participate later with the Hell’O Monsters to the Salon Drawing Now, on the platform “Emergence” dedicated to the young galleries growing…

Press contact- Sylviabeder communicationculture
Béatrice Martini: sbc@sylviabeder.com, tel.: +33 (0)1 42 18 09 42, www.sylviabeder.com

Opening 12 april

Jas Gallery
17 rue des Saints-Pères Paris
The gallery is open from Tuesday to Saturday, 2.00pm > 7.00pm
admission free

stampa

permanent link