Posts By max mulhern

Studio visit with Rupert Mair

The Italian artist Rupert Mair recently exhibited at the Pixie Gallery in Paris. His show was entitled “Enjeux”. It was a showcase of the delicate and  seemingly tentative and yet it was affirmative in its silent insistence that there could be mass to nothingness. All you need is a hint. Many of the pieces assembled in the space  resembled the  parts of familiar games and yet neither the pieces nor the games they suggested became whole or playable.

Chirp without the buzz – FIAC comes and goes in Paris

The Art Fair Bird alighted in Paris about three weeks ago in the form of the FIAC. What was “in” then is probably already “out” but here is a brief and patchy survey of the scene.

FIAC 2010 in Paris – A ramble unearths some deep thoughts

Despite nationwide strikes that continue to hobble the country the french international art fair, FIAC, came to town (Oct. 21-24th) for a week and enabled collectors and artists get down to the business of selling art. Not a riot could be heard within its walls, and business was brisk. Attendance was up. Prices were up  5.4% ( after a 42% plunge  in 2008/09).  Art is more affordable now then during the boom, and the volume sold is stable, according to the Financial Times. Good news, then,  since the crisis broke.

Temporariness

The Centre Pompidou, located in the heart of Paris, was originally conceived as a temporary structure in 1977. Though it has become a permanent  and thriving cultural hub the Pompidou’s original temporary identity  remains intact as witnessed by  the current installation of cardboard – based works by the Japanese artist Tadashi Kawamata on the centre’s facade.

Hunting Trophies

“Le Zoo de Vincent” by Vincent Who at  Substance in Paris stopped me in my tracks like a deer caught in headlights. Traffic signs, small logs, branches and rubber are assembled with great wit to create representations of stuffed heads from the antler class of mammal. What tickles is the transformation of the work of art into quarry to be bagged.

Cancelled–Alba Pistolesi and luck

As luck would have it I went  to see the work of a young French artist named Alba Pistolesi. Alba is , in her words, obsessed with cancelling the usefulness of objects as well as with table legs and their standard 72cm length. A week earlier she had shown me a large wooden die and a faggot of table legs that were meant to be screwed into the die on each face. The number of legs per face were to correspond to the number on the face of the die. This results in an object that evokes either a virus or ...

Chris Ofili at the Tate Britain

The Chris Ofili mid career survey at the Tate Britain reveals a sexually charged and scatalogical body of work reminiscent of Gilbert and George’s The Naked Shit Pictures. This survey contains overlooked sensations and under-exploited materials. The energies driving the early works have been tamed and the latest works are in an amorphous state of disarray. This could be one of the futures most exciting shows if Offili finds the new path he is looking for.

Boltanski People

Christian Boltanski’s installation at the Grand Palais in Paris entitled “Personnes” is  a monumental culmination of the artist’s lifetime of work. Situated with perfect harmony  in the giant, airy, steel and glass structure in the heart of Paris, Boltanski’s show offers a lean view of “homo-industrialis” and his output in the face of history.

Bridge over philosophical waters

The small village of Vals has provided itself  with another powerful architectural work in the form of a stone clad concrete bridge. While its striking appearance is compounded by its large size and heft in relation to its surroundings, it is crossing the bridge by foot that one experiences its  most remarkable  features.

Why Buildings Fall Down

It is probably because I am in the market for a flat that I was drawn through the glass door to the Gallery Jean Fournier in the Rue de Bac in Paris (France). The show on view is entitled “Emmenagement” or  ”Moving House”.  This is a show dedicated to those who liked where they lived. We are treated to household objects derived not by design or function but  from the process of moving.