ART IS A HUMANISM

A major exhibition by Jean-Claude Meynard, “Babel, Geometry of Riddles,” was held at the Villa Tamaris from September 11 to October 17, 2010.

The exhibition brought together 35 years of creation by the artist of Fractal Geometric Hyperrealism and Babel, including his major series on complexity.

Over a hundred works from different periods and in a variety of styles were grouped together – purposely not in chronologic order – so as to reflect their connexions, visual echoes and unique pictorial resonances. The juxtaposed works seemed to hybridize, composing brand new works.

To conserve and solidify these re-creations, through the process of hybridization – which could only take place at the time of the exhibition – a book has been published.

In the same manner as the exhibition, it presents from the beginning the sculptural series of Babels.

Jean-Claude Meynard has explored and rearranged the myth of Babel, presenting it in many forms: glass blades, towers, triangles, moucharabieh and cubes, including the monumental sphere entitled “World”, presented in the gardens of the Villa Tamaris.

Using the same scenographic audacity as that of the exhibition, the second part of the book juxtaposes the various creative cycles of the artist: Hyperrealism, Schizophrenia, Games, Geography of the Body, Puzzles and Fractal Geometry, thus updating new compositions in hybrid forms.

“The goal is to see the world in a non-finite way, that is not definitively finite, and to provide opportunities for composition and recomposition, thus of life,” the artist explains in an interview with Jean-Pierre Frimbois (Art Actuel, September 2010).

A text by Robert Bonaccorsi, director of the Villa Tamaris, and a text by Elizabeth Préault, analyze the career of the artist.

World - Extrait du film du producteur réalisateur Gilles Bastianelli

A film by the director Gilles Bastianelli has also been produced on the occasion of the exhibition

Entitled “Babel, Geometry of Riddles,” the film follows the scenography of the exhibition and shows, in vivo, the pictural resonances between the artist’s various worlds including the effects of hybridization.

“It is exhilarating to present visually the paintings, sculptures and digital works which, by themselves, develop other images,” notes Gilles Bastianelli.

The 15’ film features prestigious speakers such as the astrophysicists André Brahic and Isabelle Grenier; Robert Bonaccorsi, director of the Villa Tamaris; André Campana, television producer and former editor-in-chief of FR3; Paul Charbit, founder of the Arts, Science & Thought symposium; and Gian Carlo Pagliasso, the italian art critic.

The first hybrid creation by Jean-Claude Meynard is currently on show at the Closerie des Lilas, in Paris

To extend the work of hybridization begun at the Villa Tamaris, Jean-Claude Meynard is presenting a unique hybrid creation at the Closerie des Lilas, in Paris.

The work is a hybrid of the historical, hyper-realistic tableau that the artist produced 30 years ago, and that the Closerie exceptionally loaned for the exhibition at the Villa Tamaris.

The artist will be present at the Closerie des Lilas on Tuesday, November 2, from 6pm, to sign copies of his book.

Jean-Claude Meynard – the artist’s official website : www.jeanclaudemeynard.com
Documentation on Jean-Claude Meynard : www.jeanclaudemeynard.fr
Book – Babel, Geometry of Riddles – Fragments International Publications – Bilingual french/english – Authors : Robert Bonaccorsi et Elisabeth Préault – 125 Pages – 30 € – available in bookstores
Film – Babel, Geometry of Riddles – Producer/Director: Gilles Bastianelli – 15 ‘

SHOW OFF, the solo show art fair in Paris, takes place from October 21 to 24 at the Port des Champs Elysées.

With 1500 m2 of exhibition space and two luminous tents, SHOW OFF benefits of an exceptional location just a quick walk from FIAC.

Atelier Van Lieshout - Darwin Project

SHOW OFF offers a strong and innovative fifth edition with:

- 30 international galleries from England, Belgium, Benin, Cyprus, France, Italy, Switzerland and the Netherlands

- A strong concept with a unique focus on solo shows which reinforces SHOW OFF’s identity as a fair in its own league

- A section dedicated to featuring young emerging galleries with less than three years of experience under their belts

- Show Off lab ‘with 500 m2 of installations, performances and concerts

Dates to remember for the 5th edition of SHOW OFF, the fair of SOLO SHOWS:

Open to the public October 21-24 from 12 to 8pm

Press preview October 20 from 12 to 6pm

Public preview October 20 from 6pm to 10pm with a performance in high heels by Pascal Lièvre

Port des Champs Elysées, Pont Alexander III Paris 8th

Concert King Tongue of October 10.pm to 7:30.pm (entry fee)

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SHOW OFF PAMAVA – 7, rue des Filles du Calvaire – 75003 Paris – Tel : 01 83 62 25 67 – Mob : 06 47 34 91 29 – www.showoffparis.fr

For the 2010 edition of the FIAC at the Grand Palais from October 21 to 24, Galerie Jeanne Bucher  / Jaeger Bucher (Booth C 39) will present significant selected works by American artist Mark Tobey (1890-1976) to celebrate the 120th anniversary of his birth. Mark Tobey joined the gallery in 1944, exhibiting on many occasions until his death in 1976.

Mark Tobey is a world renowned pioneer of American Abstraction; his work eludes all categorisation but rather seeks keys and signs in painting that both represent and signify. He endeavoured to reveal the profound structure in things, and as a great explorer he enjoyed being Between Worlds, only too aware that the enclosed conventional world of art and its pseudo traditions was an obstacle to human fulfilment.

After travelling through Europe and the Middle East where he studied Arab and Persian penmanship, he left for China to study Chinese calligraphy with master Teng Kuei, and also Zen meditation.

The chemistry of these different visual cultures as well as his exploration of various art techniques—sumi, tempera, printmaking, calligraphy—led to his white writing, inspired by ancient Arab calligraphy: overlaying an abstract field, a web is formed of white or pale coloured calligraphic symbols, often made up of thousands of interlaced brushstrokes. This essential feature of his work gave rise to the all-over style of painting that was such a decisive influence on Jackson Pollock.

Mark Tobey’s work has received worldwide acclaim and is celebrated internationally by the most prestigious museums, art critics and collectors. He was aware of art’s mystical worth, projecting an active space—a space in which pigments and variations in colour made up of marks or transported by fine lines interpenetrate and fuse forming an intensely vibrating visual energy. As John Cage wrote: “His paintings exist to introduce us daily to an appreciation of the world we live in”.

Alongside the homage paid to Mark Tobey’s immense talent, an open dialogue will engage with works by other artists from the gallery whether figures from the past who knew him well (de Staël, Bissière, Vieira da Silva, Dubuffet…) or other more contemporary figures who today bear witness to their profound respect for his work (Yang Jiechang, Fabienne Verdier, Hanns Schimansky, Pat Steir…). Together they will show the strength of his vision dating back more than 50 years.

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FIAC 2010 – du 21 au 24 octobre – ouverture de midi à 20h – Grand Palais

Galerie Jaeger Bucher – 5 et 7 rue de Saintonge – 75003 Paris – Tel : 331 42 72 60 42 – www.galeriejaegerbucher.com

Galerie Jeanne Bucher – 53 rue de Seine – 75006 Paris – Tel : 331 44 41 69 65 – www.jeannebucher.com

CLAC Lyons 3 is a unique concept in France whose principal ambition is to promote contemporary art in universities. It is aimed at students as well as teaching and administrative personnel, numbering around 25,000 people at Lyons 3, of which the majority have little or inexact knowledge of contemporary art.

The CLAC sprang out of a passion. The desire henceforth is to transmit that passion to the greatest possible number.

It’s in that state of mind that Gérard Sousi, lawyer, doctor of laws, project leader of the President of the Jean Moulin Lyons 3 University and President of the Art and Law Association, decided to create, in the spring of 2009, the Contemporary Art Club of Jean Moulin Lyons 3 University.

For Gérard Sousi, it’s all about offering an occasion to penetrate the aesthetic and economic realities of current artistic creation. Added to that is the desire to open up to art such places of activity as universities, but also to encourage young artists.

To respond to this objective, all ideas are to be implemented: workshops, courses of lectures, organization of exhibitions and previews, sponsorship research to create a university collection of contemporary art works, setting up of a competition for students, invitations for artists to visit university campuses, etc.

At the start of the 2010 academic year, the CLAC is reinforcing its activities and launching, from October 31st, Art’Select, a competition reserved for University students who will visit participating Lyons galleries looking for appropriate contemporary art.

Also, on November 23rd, all will be welcome on the University campus, to attend a preview of a collective exhibition of installations, paintings and photography with the theme, “The Best of All Worlds.”

When will there be CLACS on all campuses?

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Concours Art’Select – Renseignements et inscriptions avant le 31 octobre auprès de Salomé Desrumaux – Tel : 06 59 88 99 58 – desrumaux.salome@gmail.com

CLAC – Université Jean Moulin 3 – Gérard Souci – 6 cours Albert Thomas – 69008 Lyon – Tel : 04 78 78 77 86 – gerard.sousi@univ-lyon3.fr

The gallery Applicat-Prazan exhibits Pincemin at the FIAC, from October 21 to 24 and then, at the gallery, rue de Seine on the left bank, from October 29 to November 19.

A total of 15 works – mostly large format, made after Support-Surface, between 1976 and 1989 – all selected for their aesthetic qualities throughout a process started over 10 years ago and never shown before.

For this event, the gallery entrusted Communic’Art with the creation and realisation of the poster of 680 x 867 mm, reproducing the painting Untitled (Palissade) from 1979, and at the back, 14 works by Pincemin presented in the exhibition. This beautiful poster will be offered to visitors at the gallery’s booth at the FIAC.

The gallery Applicat-Prazan continues the cycle of his major monographs with an exhibition dedicated to Jean-Pierre Pincemin’s work, after Schneider (2006), Geer van Velde (2007), Poliakoff (2008), Atlan (2008 and 2010) and recently Soulages (2009).

For Applicat-Prazan, a gallery specialized in Artists from the Ecole de Paris in the 1950′s, Pincemin represents an opening on one of the few major Artists committed to having perpetuate Abstraction in France, deep into the years 1960′s, beyond movements and fashions, transcending the divisions and perpetuating the tradition of Painting.

Jean-Pierre Pincemin (1944 – 2005) is a self-taught artist. He discovered his interest in art by studying at the Louvre on the advice of his art teacher, when he was the profession of a turner.

He taught at Ecole des Beaux-Arts of Poitiers and Angers and share with learning students his thoughts on art. Many are the exhibitions wich will be held in Europe and worldwide, on Jean-Pierre Pincemin’s work.

The exhibition comes at the end of an eventful 2010 for the artist who died in 2005. Indead, three exhibitions were devoted to his work, at Roubaix at La Piscine, from April 2 to June 13, at Angers at the Musée des Beaux-Arts, from May 8 to September 19, and finally at Céret, at the Musée des Arts Moderne, from June 26 to October 10.

A large number of his works are present in most public and private collections.

>Download the press release<

Galerie Applicat-Prazan – 16, rue de Seine – 75006 Paris – Tél : + 33 1 43 25 39 24 – www.applicat-prazan.com

Opening this Saturday October 9th from 3 to 7 pm of the exhibition Pat Steir : Paint, at Galerie Jaeger Bucher 5 et 7 rue de Saintonge. This first exhibition in Paris of American Artist Pat Steir will be held until January 8th, 2011. Gallery Jaeger Bucher entrusted Communic’Art with the media campaign of the event.

Since her first exhibition at the Terry Dintenfass Gallery in New York in 1964, Pat Steir has created a large body of works based on the ‘waterfall’ painting technique she devised in the early 1980s with “Waterfall Painted with the Chinese in Mind”.

Pat Steir has developed her technique of working with what she calls “the nature of paint” over several decades, using her body like a kyudo archer or a compass in order to experience a canvas from within, from a central axis, working towards spatialisation.

Her work also testifies to her profound interest in Renaissance painters with some of her works reminding us of the brilliant colours and magnificent gilding in sublime works by Fra Angelico, Fra Lippo Lippi and Giotto. She is similarly well acquainted with the Abstract Expressionists and Chinese painting from the Tang and Song dynasties; she has a perfect knowledge of  8th and 9th century ‘Yi-pin’ techniques whereby ‘ink splashes’ on the canvas gave rise to abstract forms suggesting perfect freedom and mastery. Ten of her recent paintings presented in this exhibition are radiantly beautiful, with a mystique that evokes the silence of our original beginnings, the zero starting-point.

For this exhibition, the gallery will publish a bilingual catalogue with colour reproductions and an essay by Doris van Drathen, art historian and critic.

The artist has exhibited her work widely, most recently in the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, (architect : Zaha Hadid, 2010), the ZKM in Karlsruhe, Germany (2006), the Whitney Museum, New York (2004) and the Des Moines Art Center, Iowa (2003); she also figures in many acclaimed public collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the MoMA, the Guggenheim Museum in New York, as well as the National Gallery of Art in  Washington and the Tate Gallery in London.

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Galerie Jaeger Bucher – 5 et 7 rue de Saintonge – 75003 Paris – Tél : +33 1 42 72 60 42 – www.galeriejaegerbucher.com

Nicolas Laugero Lasserre, founder of Artistik Rezo, a cultural media online, and current director of Espace Pierre Cardin in Paris, presents each year since 2008, a part of his collection of contemporary art.

At the time of FIAC, which takes place in Paris from October 21 to 24, 2010, Nicolas Lasserre Laugero has chosen to exhibit his contemporary art collection at Galerie Caplain-Matignon, which new artistic program is defined by Sophie Litras.

Sophie Litras and Nicolas Laugero Lasserre in front of Galerie Caplain-Matignon - ©Galerie Caplain-Matignon

The exhibition «Porte ouverture aux collectionneurs» will be held from October 21, 2010 to January 7, 2011 at Galerie Caplain-Matignon.

The press campaign of the event has been entrusted to Communic’Art.

Nicolas Laugero Lasserre embodies the new generation of  ’nomad’, curious and open-minded collectors, who participates in the discovery and recognition of emerging artistic talents.

He will present many artists from his collection such as Igor Andreev, Katherine Bernhardt, Danielle Bremner (Utah), Shepard Fairey, Dominique Fury, Laurent Godard, Speedy Graphito, Jonone, Guy Limone, Marcos Marino, Theo Mercier, Luis Rodrigo, Miss Van …

The exhibition «Porte ouverture aux collectionneurs» allows to follow the steps of a private collector, the difficulty of the choice of the works, the exchange with gallery owners and artists, and invites everyone to consider the possibility of becoming a collector of contemporary art.

Proof of his dynamism, Nicolas Lasserre Laugero participates in the first edition of Access & Paradox Art Fair, which be held from October 22 to 25 at the Espace des Blancs Manteaux, Paris, with a booth gathering some of his favorite pieces.

At the same time, Nicolas Laugero Lasserre, with Jacques Collard, adapts for the first time in France, the musical “Footloose” which is scheduled at Espace Pierre Cardin, Paris 8th, on October 12, 2010.

Key Dates

Opening Thursday, October 21 from 6.pm. to 9.pm

Exhibition from Thursday, October 21 to January 7, 2011

>Download the press pack<

Galerie Caplain-Matignon – 29, rue Matignon – Paris 8 – Tel : + 33 1 42 65 04 63