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12/9/2009

Veilhan Versailles

Chateau de Versailles, Versailles

Whether using photography, sculpture, public statuary, video, installation or even the art of the exhibition, Xavier Veilhan structures his works around a backbone: the possibilities of representation.

One of his polymorphic approach’s most visible markers is the recourse to a treatment through the generic version of forms and objects, smoothed out, without detail or psychology. Veilhan’s figures are archetypes reduced to basics, prepared so that viewers can immediately project themselves in them and go beyond the stage of anecdote. Veilhan is fascinated by issues surrounding modernity and technological progress, as well as by mechanical systems and the construction of machines. From stereotype to prototype, the artist has muddied the waters by attacking standards. Mechanical modernity has crossed paths with Veilhan’s career, which started in the late 1980s and has continued to the most recent exhibitions. Veilhan offers huge environments the viewer can visit, always revealing the weight-bearing structure in order to completely strip away illusion: construction is what matters most in his art. Since the big installations of the late 1990s he has tried his hand at designing shows of his own works as well as those of other artists. The layout of exhibitions, from the garden of Versailles to the techniques of constructivist propaganda and the great universal exhibitions, is fertile analytical ground for the artist, who is interested in the orchestration of power and its iconographic materialisation.

In the main courtyard, the Royal courtyard, the Gabriel and the Queen’s staircases and the gardens of the château de Versailles.
How to reach the exhibition: through the main courtyard of the château de Versailles.

Presentation of the works, par Bénédicte Ramade, art critic.

How might one comprehend an ensemble of architecture and landscape as symbolic as Versailles?
Xavier Veilhan has done just that with an exhibition-piece open to all and situated principally within the ambulatory spaces of the palace and its gardens. Because, as any good artist attached to systems of representations’ concepts and processes, Veilhan has taken this opportunity to showcase a new piece placed within the perfect setting that is Louis XIV’s, a fluid and dynamic trajectory focused on the relationships between scale, equilibrium and observation points. These chapters, telling the story of a single solitary work, follow each other in the course of a scripted walkthrough, nourished by the genius of the surrounding environment and the great geniuses that inhabit the artist’s memory.

Xavier Veilhan: “My project for Versailles mainly addresses the outdoor realm, following an east/west axis across the estate, from the Place d’Armes to Le Nôtre’s formal gardens. I will be placing several works or groups of works conceived especially for this exhibition, which will articulate the continuity that joins the site’s history to its contemporary protraction. This is a project that is dynamic, classical, open and universal, aiming to establish a new bond between visitors to the place and the spaces they come into contact with.”

Xavier Veilhan
In whatever medium they are produced ­– photography, sculpture, public statuary, video, installation or even the art of exhibition itself – the architecture of Xavier Veilhan’s works is built around the backbone of the possibilities of representation.
One of the most visible hallmarks of his polymorphous output is the application of a generic version to forms and objects. These are given pared-down treatment without either detail or psychological content. Veilhan’s figures are archetypes reduced to their essence, ready for the viewer to project him or herself directly into them and go beyond the anecdotal

Fascinated by issues of modernity and technical progress, Veilhan is likewise interested in mechanical systems, in the construction of machines. From stereotype to prototype, the artist has shuffled the papers and mixed up the coordinates, while clinging to standards. Mechanical modernity has been a constant, transverse presence in Xavier Veilhan’s career since its outset in the late 1980s, and has loomed large in his recent exhibitions.

Xavier Veilhan also likes to offer the viewer the experience of a visit within a vast space. The load-bearing structure is always clearly revealed, however, to prevent any threat of illusion: Veilhan’s art is first and foremost about construction.

Since the major installations of the late 1990s, Xavier Veilhan has been applying himself to the exercise of working out scenographic elements for his own works, and those of other artists, too. The devices of exhibition, from the Gardens of Versailles via constructivist propaganda techniques to the grand venues of the World Fairs and Universal Exhibitions, provide fertile analytical material for an artist who is fascinated by the orchestration of power and its materialisation in iconography. Bénédicte Ramade, November 2008

One-man shows and projects:
Andréhn-Schiptjenko, Stockholm; Galeria Javier Lopez, Madrid; Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris & Miami; Gering&Lopez Gallery, New York; Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli, Turin; Centre Pompidou, Paris; MAMC, Strasbourg; The National Academy Museum, York; Barbican Centre, London; CCAKitakyushu (Japan); Göteborgs Konsthall (Sweden); Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona; MAMCO, Geneva; ARC MAM, Paris…

Collective exhibitions:
Centre Pompidou, Paris; Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Munich; La Force de l’art/Grand Palais 2006, Paris; Domaine Pommery, Reims; Simon Lee Gallery, London; Viktor Pinchuk Foundation, Kiev; Nuit Blanche 2006, Paris; Bienial de Valencia; Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris; Musée du Louvre, Paris; 7th Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art; Tate Gallery, London; Guggenheim Museum Soho, New York; Fondation Cartier, Paris; Kwangju Biennale, South Korea…

Agence de Relations Presse - Saison 2009 Opus 64 - Valérie Samuel
71 rue Saint-Honoré 75001 Paris T. 01 40267794 F. 01 40264498 Mail. Patricia Gangloff: p.gangloff@opus64.com

Fontaines de Bertrand Lavier
We recommend you following opening times, corresponding in 2 time of daily functioning of the Fountain:
13 sep. > 30 sep. 2009
12h-12h30 + 18h-18h30

1 oct. > 31 oct 2009
12h-12h30 + 17h30-18h

1 nov. > 14 nov. 2009
12h-12h30 + 17h-17h30

15 nov. > 13 dec. 2009
12h-12h30 + 16h-16h30

Château de Versailles
Place d'Armes - 78000 Versailles
Opening times
FROM 13 SEPTEMBER TO 31 OCTOBER
Palace
Every day except Mondays, 9 am – 6.30 last admission: 6 pm
Gardens
Open every day, 7 am – 7 pm for vehicles, 8.30 pm for pedestrians
FROM 1 NOVEMBER TO 13 DECEMBER
Palace
Every day except Mondays, 9 am – 5.30 pm last admission: 5.pm
Gardens
Every day except Mondays, 8 am – 6 pm

stampa

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