Jacques Charlier
dal 8/11/2001 al 22/12/2001
Segnalato da
8/11/2001
Jacques Charlier
Galerie Fortlaan 17, Gent
The work of Jacques Charlier is packed with playful paradoxes and witty reflections. As far back as the early sixties he started to construct 'mise en scènes' with discarded objects. In the eighties he starts to make remarkable satires about new trends in art. He also writes texts, which he signs with the names of imaginary critics.
The work of Jacques Charlier (Liège, Belgium, 1939) is
packed with playful paradoxes and witty reflections. As far back
as the early sixties he started to construct 'mise en scènes' with
discarded objects. In the eighties he starts to make remarkable
satires about new trends in art. A few years later his work
emphasizes a sense of déjà vu by using frames from days long
gone for paintings signed by imaginary artists. He also writes
texts, which he signs with the names of imaginary critics.
With unflagging energy Charlier tries out every kind of artistic
technique and expression possible, constructing an oeuvre that
he calls himself 'his activities'. In 1996/1997 he creates new work
with photographs he found. They include pictures of dancers and
other 'artists' from the world of showbiz, to which he adds
collages and commentaries from newspaper clippings
JACQUES CHARLIER CONTEXT
As a self-educated boy Jacques Charlier (Liège, Belgium, 1939) starts to study art and the strategies of
the art market at the age of fifteen. He lives an isolated life in the country where he systematically analyses
his collection of biographies, dictionaries and catalogues.
Early in the 1960s he exhibits a sort of 'mise en scènes' of bits and pieces he buys on flee markets and
photographs. In 1963 he starts to collect professional photographs which have been made by the
Technical Department of the Province in Liège, where he lives. His approach of the photographs is a
response to Pop Art and the Nouveau Réalisme. From 1965 to 1969 he is busy with innumerable
activities : poetry, playing the guitar, photography, mail art, film, conferences, he edits a magazine,...
Through Marcel Broodthaers somewhere in the 1970s he meets Spillemaeckers, who has just opened an
art gallery. Spillemaeckers offers to show the pictures from the Technical Department of the Province to
the public for the first time. The work was later purchased by the Museum of Contemporary Art in Ghent.
He continues his wide range of activities with pictures from the inauguration of exhibitions, photographic
novels, comic sketches (including a portrait of Konrad Fisher) and musical events.
In the 1980s he starts to parody new trends in art with compositions of paintings and small statues. For
'Chambre d'ennemi' - a work for the much discussed exhibition Chambre d'amis in Ghent, 1986 - he uses
actors, furniture and specific objects to create a fantastic environment. He pursues similar inquiries with
'La vie éternelle' (exhibited in Düsseldorf, Bergen and Nantes, 1987) and 'Le pouvoir de la vie' (a large
installation exhibited at Bezugspunkte 38/88 in Graz, 1988).
In 1986 Charlier starts to make ample use of old frames, ageing processes, artificial crackling, imaginary
names of artists and critics. The reappearance of the objects from the flee market intends to cause
confusion or alternatively they may be used to interpret art movements. With unflagging energy Charlier
tries out every kind of artistic technique possible, which is the essence of what the artist himself
emphatically calls his 'activities'. He enjoys contemplating the era in which he lives by surrounding himself
with old-fashioned and outdated images which have been banned from our collective consciousness.
Charlier consistently continues his 'activities' in the 1990s. Every year he creates 'new' art, but it is the art
of a chameleon. With inexhaustible wit he adapts every object to his purpose.
In 1996 he investigates the political and social conditions in Belgium (the 'White March', the cases of the
kidnapped children and murdered politicians). His preferred medium in 1997 is photography. He makes
subtle collages of pictures of 'artists' from the world of showbiz and newspaper cuttings. These are
mounted in old frames to which he adds insinuating bits of textile.
Charlier has quite consciously chosen not to evolve a personal 'style', which enables him to keep
shattering the aura which surrounds 'art'.
Galerie Fortlaan 17
Fortlaan 17 B-9000 Gent Belgio Tel: +32 (0)9 222 00 33 Fax: +32 (0)9 221 63 27