Merci Raymond !
La Monnaie de Paris is hosting until July the 17th a surprising exhibition “Merci Raymond !” from the meeting of two major contemporary artists, Bertrand Lavier and Raymond Hains, in a breath-taking place.
About the artists
Bertrand Lavier is a French contemporary plastic artist born on June 14th, 1949 in Châtillon-sur-Seine.
Lavier's work has its place on the pathway that was opened up by Marcel Duchamp and Constantin Brancusi as he questions the boundary between art and everyday life.
This boundary has become even finer and Lavier challenges it by using a conceptual approach and exposing ordinary objects from everyday life (sofas, fridges, furniture, …) as well as impersonal pieces removed from their context.
Hence the artist is inviting us to question the dilemma between art and non art.
Raymond Hains is a French contemporary plastic artist born on November 9th, 1926 in Saint-Brieuc. He died on October 28th, 2005 in Paris.
Hains began making photographs with the use of distorting lenses, which give the object an exploded image. After his first exhibition in 1947 at the Colette Allendy gallery in Paris, Hains re-employed this procedure to make experimental films; During a shoot in 1949, he thought of filming posters stuck on street walls. From then on he had the idea of appropriating them. Together with Jacques de la Villeglé, he collected advertising posters torn by anonymous hands on the streets of Paris. They exhibited those later in 1957 during an exhibition titled “Loi du 29 juillet 1881” (“Law of 29 July 1881”), referring to the government’s legislation regarding public posters.
After the formation of the New Realist group in 1960, Hains kept on exhibiting torn posters.
In 1959, he also started collecting posters on their underlying support of wood or metal, which enabled him to set up a dialogue between the background and the colours of the image.
This new perceptual approach to reality is also a way for Hains and his fellow poster-artists to show what the post-industrial societies are trying to hide: death and imperfection.
About the exhibition
The exhibition is a tribute to Raymond Hains directed by Bertrand Lavier.
It consists of thematic installations in twelve separate sections and the whole organization is a conversation between Lavier, Hains and other major artists such as Olivier Mosset.
The purpose is having Lavier giving his version and artistic interpretation of Raymond Hains’ works while questioning the established artist.
More alive than a tribute, it allows the visitor not only to discover Hains under the friendly eye of Lavier but also to move beyond the individuality of each artist and to determine common place to analyse their works.
The exhibition is a duality between correspondence and confrontation both verbal and visual.
This way the visitor can see all of the influences that one artist has over the other one and identifies a common thread of reflection meaning the criticism of modernism.
The dialogue between the two artists has everything to do with poetry without mentioning the surprising sense of humour and stunning aesthetics, enough to satisfy the visitor's eye.
About the artworks
The artworks are inherently paradoxical.
On one side they are accessible enough to allow an immediate understanding: the methods used are simple and come from the familiar art language such as ready-mades (“Palisade”, Raymond Hains), ready-destroyed (“Untitled (Dolphin serie)”, Raymond Hains), superposition of objects (“La Boca sur Zanker”, Bertrand Lavier), painted elements (painted furniture), accumulation of things and materials (sheet metal, torn posters).
And on the other side they raise several issues and themes such as the interconnection between art and everyday life and the meaning of post-industrial societies and their underlying banality.
The artworks themselves are nothing tragic (apart Dolly staging) but retain the viewer’s attention with humour and tactfulness.
The fact there are several possible levels of analysis makes this exhibition even more thrilling.
“La Boca sur Zanker” (La Boca on a fridge), Bertrand Lavier (2005)
By employing the superposition of one object upon another, Lavier returns to the notions of the sculpture. Either Lavier took his inspiration from Brancusi or Duchamp, this subtly organised installation is another way to question sculpture itself, by using objects.
“Dolly”, Bertrand Lavier (1993)
Dolly is actually a deflated balloon. The dramatic staging coupled with the magnificence of the room is a great visual experience for the visitor.
“Il y a six troènes entre Matiz et Picasso”, Bertrand Lavier (2016)
For this installation, Bertrand Lavier replays, with humour, the match between the two challengers Matisse and Picasso. A real commercial and contemporary duel.
“Z”, Bertrand Lavier (2016)
“Magritte en Marguerite (Magritte as Marguerite)”, Raymond Hains (1999)
The process is very familiar: the artwork is part of the Macintoshages series. They are digital collages that are actually screenshots. This shows how Hains was actually well ahead of his time.
“Rue de Charonne 2” (Charonne Street 2), Bertrand Lavier (2000)
“Sans titre (Série Dauphin)” (Untitled, Dolphin Series), Raymond Hains (1990)
This installation, made of sheet-metal and shreds of slashed posters, is a billboard. The object covers a material reality, in which the artist's "non-action" operates by choice.
This billboard also makes reference to other sources. It is a re-appropriated object, reminiscent of Duchamp's ready-mades. The negative action of slashing which proceeds, unlike painting, through a removal of material while keeping the colour and form almost intact, reminds us of Matisse's paper cut-outs.
“Palissade” (Palisade), Raymond Hains (1976)
The sheet-metal/wood period of Hains follows the discovery in 1958 of the Bompaire warehouse where these were stocked. The idea of the underlying support breaking through the surface is making this installation interesting as it modifies the perceptions we have of design and beauty.
"Equivalence par inversion du rouge et du vert d’après Lacan” (Equivalence by reversing the red and green colours, according to Lacan), Raymond Hain (2005)
The use of neon tubes and two colors radiate the whole space and reveals the beauty and spirituality of the artwork . Moreover this spirituality can be retrieved in the "8" , which is also the symbol of infinity. Here the confrontation with the word "o' (who can also be interpreted as the zero) gives a beautiful visual perception.
“Coucher de soleil sur l'Adriatique avec J.R. Boronali” (Sunset on the Adriatic, with J.R. Boronali), Bertrand Lavier (2016)
In 1910, Dorgelès, whose nickname is Joachim Raphael Boronali, made a donkey, named Lolo realize a painting. Its tail was attached to the brush. Every time the donkey was given a carrot or some tobacco, the donkey was supposed to frantically stair its tail and this way the paint was applied to the canvas. Since then, it has been proved that it was actually a joke.
“Sans titre” (untitled), Oliver Mosset (1966-1972)
Olivier Mosset is part of the BMPT group to which Daniel Buren, Michel Parmentier and Niele Toroni belong as well. Mosset touch is a black circle centered and painted on a white canvas free of any frame. Close to the conceptual approach of American minimalism, Mosset doesn’t claim neither perfection nor emotion in the act of painting, the painting is then considered as a mere object. This painting is included in the "You are rounder than the Giono’s O " section.
The "o" of Mosset recalls the number zero that also evokes the degree zero of painting, returning to the original theme (painting as object).
“Bleu de France par Tollens et Ducolac” (Bleu de France by Tollens and Ducolac), Bertrand Lavier (2016)
Acrylic paint has been applied to this furniture in thick layers reminding us of Van Gogh's brushstroke. Van Gogh’s brushstroke is one of the clichés of modern painting and by using it Lavier questions the role of this object: is a coat of paint enough to make a simple everyday object a work of art?
As this process lifts these objects above the mere status of ready-mades, the object sitting on the ground addresses us with its very ambiguity between art and non-art.
"Objet-Dard“, Bertrand Lavier (2003)
The “Dard” refers to the sting but it’s most likely a word play from the French contraction of “d’” and “art”.
This artwork compiles the titles of all the novels of San Antonio.