MARTIN KERSELS Olympus 36, rue de Seine 75006 Paris — fr T.+33(0)1 46 34 61 07 f.+33(0)1 43 25 18 80 www.galerie-vallois.com [email protected] Pilar Albarracín ES Gilles Barbier FR Julien Berthier FR Julien Bismuth FR Mike Bouchet US Alain Bublex FR Massimo Furlan CH Taro Izumi JP Richard Jackson US Adam Janes US Jean-Yves Jouannais FR Martin Kersels US Paul Kos US Paul McCarthy US Jeff Mills US Joachim Mogarra FR Arnold Odermatt CH Henrique Oliveira BR Niki de Saint Phalle FR Jean Tinguely ch Keith Tyson GB Jacques Villeglé FR Olav Westphalen De Winshluss FR Virginie Yassef FR At the beginning of the 1990s, Martin the appearance (what we are supposed Kersels experimented with his body. As to represent) and the essence (what an active member of the group SHRIMPS we actually are); a dichotomous vision 14 March (with Pam Casey, Gail Gonzalez, Steven which the artist applies to objects by Nagler, Ryan Hill and Weba Garretson), questioning the relations between a — he performed a series of familiar and product and its mode of fabrication, simple gestures: holding, throwing, between surface and materiality, between 26 April falling, kissing, cadencing, rocking; form and function. The exhibition in performances that oscillated between its formal aspect is also an element 2014 radicality and the absurd, both of disruption: Olympus (2014) sets the transpiring through the photographs exhibition space into motion, now mobile taken during the performance. and unpredictable. A synergetic dynamic opening Simultaneously, he developed a is at work as a removable structure 3-dimensional work guided by movement. that transforms and regenerates forms; Thursday Inspired by objects and the body meanwhile the viewer’s circulation 13th March language of daily life, Martin Kersels participates in upsetting the general builds not only staged spaces where body ba la nce. from 6 p.m. and machine interact, but also animated sculptures producing incongruous actions At the heart of a surprising scenography / and sounds. The bizarre dimension of his are bricolage works, the materials of work is only a facade, his plastic work which come from daily life. Altered, is in fact underpinned by a conceptual accumulated, associated, they tend and critical reflexion on our relations towards abstraction. Playing on fake to the world and society. The constant pretences, the sculptures underline discussion between bodies, space, and the notion of passing, from one state the object is an integral part of his to another, from the familiar to the practice. strange. The loss of control, of bearings and the shift (perceptive, spatial, For his new exhibition at Galerie temporal and corporeal) push the viewer Vallois, Martin Kersels questions the to rethink myths, norms, objects which myth of the Olympus. Heaven for the constitute her/his own environment. gods, protected from men, the Olympus By exploring the both symbolised perfection (both body and pathetic and absurd off-site spirit), complete happiness, joy of dimension of society, life, the carefree and plentiful. And Martin Kersels creates MARTIN KERSELS yet, after reading Homer’s Odysseus, the a critical space where “In Vivo” artist observed that gods, just as men, disobedience, joy, are not exempt from vileness, vices and incoherence and derision Lecture/Performance mediocrity. “They looked like gods, but open the way for a acted like humans. By western standards possible liberation. Centre Pompidou of aesthetics and ethics, the exterior 2 April 2014 - 7 p.m. did not match interior”.* A space is created between inside and outside, *interview with Martin Kersels, January 2014 Julie Crenn Project Room MATÍAS DUVILLE 36, rue de Seine life in an instant 75006 Paris — fr T.+33(0)1 46 34 61 07 f.+33(0)1 43 25 18 80 www.galerie-vallois.com [email protected] Pilar Albarracín ES Gilles Barbier FR Julien Berthier FR Julien Bismuth FR Mike Bouchet US Alain Bublex FR Massimo Furlan CH Taro Izumi JP Richard Jackson US Adam Janes US Jean-Yves Jouannais FR Martin Kersels US Paul Kos US Paul McCarthy US Jeff Mills US Joachim Mogarra FR Arnold Odermatt CH Henrique Oliveira BR Niki de Saint Phalle FR Jean Tinguely ch Keith Tyson GB FR Jacques Villeglé Matías Duville grew up between ocean incisive strokes translate a desire to De Olav Westphalen and forest. He observes, carries out sculpt the landscape: to dig, to roam Winshluss FR Virginie Yassef FR experiments and fantasies about two and tear the earth, to intertwine roots, territories invoking simultaneously to shape arches, to carve rocks, to hang the sublime, fear and danger. Feelings the sea, to split the sky. A dialogue is that are not contradictory, but then established with his 3-dimensional complimentary, and which penetrate work. A charred wooden fireplace 14 March his work. His monochromatic charcoal (Fireplace – 2011), a table presenting drawings present a tormented and a salt landscape, hooks and broken — threatening nature. The ante- and p ost- glass (under realisation) constitute apocalyptic landscapes surrounded by what remains after the impact. Domestic 26 April steep and improbable edges forecast elements represent ruins of a suddenly a sudden mutation. They are marked by fleeing humanity. Fire and water have 2014 cracks, craters, abysses, extrusions, swept away everything. Only traces have trails and devastating waves. In-between resisted this violent and irreversible empty spaces and loaded formations, wave. With these unidentified spaces, opening light and darkness, presence and Matías Duville brings back Nature’s absence, reality and fiction, the artist forces in all its extremes. Unease and Thursday immerses us at the heart of an enigmatic fascination are combined. It allows world. Ours? The answer is not simple. him to shape the notion of thresholds 13th March Man’s footprints are rare, traces of (delimiting dream from nightmare) from 6 p.m. civilisation stubbornly remain at the and limits (temporal and spatial) by bottom of a décor where nature has exploring an inhospitable world where reasserted itself. A catastrophe has bearings are turned upside down. / taken place, or is about to: a tornado, Immersed in chaos, we are driven by the a tsunami, an eruption, a brutal climate convulsive imagination of the artist upcoming change. Everything that is familiar to who is both author and translator of an us is suddenly swept away by sprawling angry nature. and ruthless phenomena. The world we Jacques villeglé are accustomed to is on the verge of Graffiti disappearing. The uncanny theorised by Julie Crenn politiques Freud takes on its full meaning here. Born in Argentina in 1974, The drawings made of sharp, abrupt and Matías Duville lives and works in Buenos Aires. He graduated Project Room from the School of Visual Arts in Mar del Plata and continued BRASSAï his training with Jorge Macchi Graffiti and at the CC ROJA UBA/KUITCA. He has participated in many residencies and exhibitions in 7 June - Latin America, in the US and 30 July 2014 in Europe. In 2013, he was a finalist of the Canson Prize (exhibition at the Petit Palais, Paris) / and was invited by the SAM Art Projects to present the same year the solo show Discard ART FAIR Geography at the Chapelle des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He has also participated in ART BRUSSELS La distance juste (curated by Albertine de Galbert) at 25-27 April 2014 Galerie Vallois. .