Kendell Geers uses Andrade's Manifesto Antropofago and takes cannibalism as a symbolic practice, a metaphor for violent acts that occur in societies, risen from excess of power, domination and economic exploitation. Damian Moppett, in Studio La Nuit, presents a group of new works that includes new peintures and two sculptures.
Kendell's "Kannibale"
Yvon Lambert is proud to announce Kannibale, Kendell Geers’ first solo exhibition at the gallery from
October 18 to December 8, 2007.
In 1928, the Brazilian poet Oswald de Andrade (1890–1954) announced his “Manifesto Antropófago”:
“Only Cannibalism unites us. Socially. Economically. Philosophically”. In this Cannibal Manifesto,
Cannibalism is a powerful metaphor for the cultural incorporation of the values of “what’s not mine”,
what’s stranger to me; as well as a radical vision for extremes of violence.
Kendell Geers uses Andrade’s “Manifesto Antropófago” and takes cannibalism as a symbolic practice,
a metaphor for violent acts that occur in societies, risen from excess of power, domination (especially
colonialism and class structure), economic exploitation, emotional impulses and traumas. This
cannibalism makes no attempt to strive towards a reduction of tensions. However, its instinct focuses
on what is positive; the creative flows, life drives, eroticism and cultural exchange.
The exhibition is equally a tribute to Francis Picabia's dada review ‘Cannibale’ in which he states his
Dada Cannibal Manifesto:
"like your idols: nothing.
like your politicians: nothing.
like your heroes: nothing.
like your artists: nothing.
like your religions: nothing"
Geers consistently explores the collapse of belief systems and ideologies, using all possible media.
This exhibition will feature for instance razormesh phallic towers, symbols of the Cannibalist
Architecture. "Razormesh" is a razor blade security fence now exported globally to the prisons in
Guantanamo Bay, Iraq or Palestine. This particular fencing featured in Geers sculptures was
developed in South Africa during Apartheid. It is highly symbolic in the sense that it is different from
barbed wire, in his words "barbed wire is for cattle but razormesh is for humans and is the universal
symbol of the twenty first century".
A replica of the “Nike of Samothrace” will preside over the show just as the one in Samothrace. The
original sculpture has been in the Louvre since 1884, cannibalized by another society.
The following self-description of Kendell Geers outlines his artistic agenda:
“I am a white African living in a moment when people armed with razor blades can crash into the
world’s most powerful buildings, a time when 15-million people in South Africa have AIDS, a time
when the United States can declare war on Iraq for no reason other than fulfilling its own desire, a time
when the pollution from the United States cause floods in Europe and droughts in Australia. I am living
in a time of contradiction where Contradiction, Truth, Desire, Passion and Anarchist are nothing more
than the names of perfumes. I live in an age of digital reproduction where truth no longer exists in an
image, where every image can be altered and changed and anybody can be erased from or inserted
into history.”
A project by Geers is an attack. It is instinctual, direct and matches the brutality encountered in
contemporary society. He proposes to the viewer an interrogation and asks for a definition of
positions, thus creating a decisive discomfort. The real question that Kendell Geers asks to the visitor
is "what do you believe in?".
Opening 18 october 2007
Yvon Lambert Paris
108, rue Vieille du Temple Paris
Free admidmission
......
Damian Moppet
Studio La Nuit
First artist's solo at the new space gallery Sidewalk Yvon Lambert. For this exhibition Damian Moppett presents a group of new works that includes new peintures and two sculptures.
Image: Kendell Geers, The Fuckingfucks, 2007. Performance with Lise Ghekiere and Patrick Codenys
Yvon Lambert Sidewalk
October 18th 6 pm - 9 pm
Encounter with Federico Nicolao. He is the author of 3 new
works published by Illusion d'Optique/Académie de France in Rome, with Koo
Jeong-a, Jérôme Combier et Laura Erber's participation
Opening 18 october 2007
Yvon Lambert Paris
108, rue Vieille du Temple Paris
Free Admission