Political art tends to oscillate between the naïve, inept illustration of worn-out slogans on the one hand, and disparaging or insulting visual comments of other people’s views. Furthermore, as many such politically minded artists tend to be in want of talent, words are often added here and there on the canvas to make the message…
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Ferrara, Palazzo dei Diamanti, 30 May – 27 September 2020 It is expected, when one reads an article about an “iconic” artist, that his originality and exceptional contribution to the history of art will be one way or another acknowledged and celebrated. One interesting point about Banksy, the pseudonymous English street artist, is that we…
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Some artists work so much on the “outskirts” of mainstream contemporary art that they risk being overlooked despite their talent. And the reasons why mainstream ignores them are fairly obvious : they fit poorly with the art system in its merchant dimension, and they do not fit with the dominant ideology of the art system,…
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Exposition L’Echo du Silence, Kremlin-Bicêtre, Espace 16K, 9 – 20 septembre 2020 L’Echo du Silence, première exposition organisée par l’association “CulturFoundry” en soutien de jeunes artistes, a donné l’occasion de rencontrer des personnalités dont le talent ne saurait être ignoré, et qui pour la plupart d’entre eux sont susceptibles de développer une œuvre plutôt que…
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Un hotel à Genève… Décembre 2019 Oeuvre d’art, Merci de ne pas toucher. Telle est l’inscription (mots soulignés compris) qui figure sur deux panonceaux encadrant un gros ours de couleur rouge vif, juché sur un socle noir, devant l’arbre de Noël placé dans le hall d’un hôtel de luxe à Genève. La version anglaise de…
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Art Basel Miami, December 2019 It is impossible to avoid sparing a word for the now famous banana of Maurizio Cattelan. During the Wednesday preview of Art Basel Miami, while strolling in the alleys, one could spot at Gallery Perrotin a banana affixed to the wall by means of a silvery tape. Peering at the…
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Galerìa Patricia Conde, Mexico Photography has a long and glorious tradition in Mexico, which is unsurprising given the particular relationship which this culture entertains with reality; given a context where reality somehow finds extensions in realms of experience which seem to belong elsewhere, in fantasy, among the dead, in quasi-magical patterns of behaviour, in odd…
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Young photography seldom provides examples of a coherence between form and purpose quite as convincing as the work by Thomas Hauser, although it is fair to say that these are still early days to decide if this promise will be held. The purpose is remembrance, and capturing the passage of time which taints the…
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Beirut Art Fair, Septembre 2019 La foire d’art contemporain de Beyrouth fêtait cette année ses vingt ans, et l’on y pouvait déceler une énergie nouvelle. Un beau travail a été fait par les commissaires et organisateurs non seulement pour rendre visible cet événement sur la carte des – désormais trop nombreuses – foires d’art contemporain,…
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Fondazione Prada, Venice, 2019 “I was called an artist in the Sixties because they didn’t know how to define a pile of coal. But I am a painter, and I claim my initiation in painting. Because painting is the construction of images and doesn’t refer to a manner or, even less, a technique.” (In Alessandra…
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