ardenne nick mauss 13.05.11-14.08.11 dossier de presse

Transcription

ardenne nick mauss 13.05.11-14.08.11 dossier de presse
frac champagne-ardenne
fonds régional d’art contemporain
1, place museux
f-51100 reims
t
+33 (0)3 26 05 78 32
f
+33 (0)3 26 05 13 80
[email protected]
www.frac-champagneardenne.org
frac
champagneardenne
dossier de presse
nick mauss
13.05.11-14.08.11
frac
champagneardenne
1
frac champagne-ardenne
fonds régional d’art contemporain
1, place museux
f-51100 reims
t
+33 (0)3 26 05 78 32
f
+33 (0)3 26 05 13 80
[email protected]
www.frac-champagneardenne.org
NICK MAUSS / DISORDER
EXPOSITION DU 13 MAI AU 14 AOUT 2011
VERNISSAGE LE JEUDI 12 MAI 2011 A 18H00
communiqué de presse
p. 2
dossier d’œuvres
p. 4
biographie
p. 11
bibliographie
p. 13
sélection d’articles de presse
p. 15
2
JULIEN CARREYN / LYOT - NICK MAUSS / DISORDER
EXPOSITION DU 13 MAI AU 14 AOUT 2011
VERNISSAGE LE JEUDI 12 MAI 2011 A 18H00
Commissaire des expositions : Florence Derieux
visite privée pour les amis du frac champagne-ardenne : lundi 16 mai à 19h00
visites publiques : tous les dimanches à 16h00
visite pour les enseignants : mercredi 18 mai à 14h30
visite pour les étudiants : jeudi 26 mai à 18h30
nuit européenne des musées : samedi 14 mai de 20h00 à minuit
Le FRAC Champagne-Ardenne présente simultanément deux expositions personnelles, l'une consacrée à l'artiste français Julien Carreyn (né
en 1973 ; vit et travaille à Paris) et l'autre à l'artiste allemano-américain
Nick Mauss (né en 1980 ; vit et travaille à New York).
À l’instar des œuvres mystérieuses du symboliste belge Fernand Khnopff
– compositions peuplées de femmes hiératiques, inaccessibles et au regard trouble, ou paysages renvoyant au monde du rêve –, les images de
Julien Carreyn (né en 1973 à Angers ; vit et travaille à Paris) évoquent un
passé disparu, englouti dans le vague des souvenirs. L’artiste photographie des modèles qu’il fait poser dans des intérieurs saturés d’objets à
haute valeur culturelle et symbolique. S’en suit un long travail d’atelier
solitaire et minutieux pour faire naître, par le biais de techniques
d’impression obsolètes, des dessins et des photographies qui sont ensuite assemblés en séries et disposés sous vitrine tels des vestiges culturels.
Nick Mauss (né en 1980 à New York ; vit et travaille à New York) utilise
l’accumulation – d’idées, de souvenirs, d’influences – comme une technique, et développe une approche artistique à la fois mécanique, poétique, onirique et presque incantatoire. S’il considère ses œuvres sur
papier et celles qu’il nomme des « dessins amplifiés » (ses sculptures,
peintures, vidéos et installations) comme autant d’éléments d’un vocabulaire en développement, résolument ancrés dans le présent, celles-ci
sont le plus souvent perçues comme issues d’un passé dont on ne sait
s’il doit être éradiqué ou devenir source d’émulation. Il appréhende le
lieu d’exposition, qui est traité comme un objet oscillant entre l’espace
mental, émotionnel, sensuel, historique et artistique, comme une page
blanche à partir de laquelle est construit un dessin.
Julien Carreyn et Nick Mauss partagent un même désir d’imaginaire et
d’esthétisme. Particulièrement intéressés par des techniques de reproduction anciennes et/ou rudimentaires, tous deux ont choisi de privilégier le dessin en tant que processus créatif pour tenter de créer un
nouveau langage. Boulimiques et érudits, c’est par la fusion de références multiples qu’ils produisent des œuvres à l’aspect faussement désuet,
mêlant l’abstraction à la figuration, associant un certain réalisme fragmenté aux images subconscientes et aux rêves, et ayant la particularité
de rester parfaitement ouvertes.
Julien Carreyn a notamment participé à des expositions à la Fondation
d’Entreprise Ricard à Paris (Une Expédition, commissariat de Stéphane
Calais, 2009), au Mac/Val de Vitry-sur-Seine (collection du FRAC Ile-deFrance, 2008) et au CNEAI de Chatou (Salons boudoirs et antichambres,
2002). Il a publié plusieurs livres d’artistes, dont Les Demoiselles de
3
Vienne en collaboration avec Pierre La Police (Editions Cornélius, Paris,
2008). Julien Carreyn est représenté par la Galerie Crèvecœur à Paris.
Le travail de Nick Mauss a notamment été présenté au Künstlerhaus de
Stuttgart, à la Kunsthalle Basel (Strange Comfort (Afforded by the Profession), 2010), à P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center à New York (expositions Greater New York et The Baghdad Batteries, 2010), à la Halle für
Kunst de Luneburg (Provence « O », 2010), à la Kunsthalle de Zurich
(Non-Solo Show, Non-Group Show, 2009) et au MoMA - Museum of
Modern Art de New York (Contemporary Drawings Collection, 2009). Il
est représenté par Galerie Neu à Berlin et 303 Gallery à New York.
Avec le soutien de Champagne Taittinger
le frac champagne-ardenne reçoit le soutien du conseil régional de champagne-ardenne, du ministère de la culture et de
la communication et de la ville de reims. il est membre du art center social club et du réseau platform.
4
Printed
2010
Chaises en bois, peinture
84 x 84 x 86 cm
Collection FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, Reims
5
Concrete
2010
Feuille d’argent sur panneau
50 x 40 cm
Collection FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, Reims
6
Feuilles volantes
2010
Sérigraphie sur bois
109 x 66 cm
Collection FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, Reims
7
Living Sign
2010
Impression jet d’encre, colle, bois, papier, peinture, panneau synthétique
91,44 x 35,56 x 20,32 cm
Courtesy Galerie Neu, Berlin
8
Copy of a dream on film
2009
Pastel, peinture aérosole, encre sur papier
65 x 52 cm (encadré)
Courtesy Galerie Neu, Berlin
9
Interval
2009
Matériaux divers
Env. 77 x 39 x 66 cm
Courtesy Galerie Neu, Berlin
10
Sans titre
2008
Matériaux divers sur papier
62 x 54 cm (encadré)
Courtesy Galerie Neu, Berlin
11
NICK MAUSS
Né en 1980 à New York. Vit et travaille à New York.
FORMATION
2003
B.F.A., The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, New
York
EXPOSITIONS PERSONNELLES
2010
Galerie Neu, Berlin
Galleria Il Capricorno, Venise
2009
303 Gallery, New York
2008
Have meant, Hiromi Yoshii Gallery, Tokyo
2007
A Fair to Meddling Story, Künstlerhaus Stuttgart, Stuttgart
Lymph Est, Galerie Neu, Berlin
One Season in Hell, Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, New York
2005
Daniel Reich Gallery, New York
2003
Magnetic Living, Daniel Reich Gallery, New York
EXPOSITIONS COLLECTIVES
2010
Strange Comfort (Afforded by the Profession), Kunsthalle Basel, Bâle
Greater New York, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center
The Baghdad Batteries, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center
Provence O, Halle für Kunst, Lüneburg
Surviving H1N1, Contemporary by Golconda, Tel Aviv
Ne Vivre Jamais, Elgarafi, Berlin
Broadway 1602, New York
2009
Non-Solo Show, Non-Group Show, Kunsthalle, Zurich
Never on Sunday, Tbilisi6, Tbilisi, Georgia
Compass in Hand: Selections from The Judith Rothschild Foundation
Contemporary Drawings Collection, Museum of Modern Art, New York
Dreaming the Mainstream, Vilma Gold, London
modern modern, Chelsea Art Museum, New York
Quodlibet II, Galerie Daniel Bucholz, Cologne
12
2008
One Season in Hell, MD72, Berlin
Not so subtle subtitle, Casey Kaplan Gallery, New York
Some Neighbors, Kunstverein München, Munich
Sunset, Magasin, Grenoble
Review, Galerie Neu, Berlin
Were, there, severe (thin line), Galeria Alessandro de March, Milan
Nostalgia Isnt What It Used To Be, O’Hara, La MaMa E.T.C., New York
2007
Exposition N° 1, Balice/Hertling, Paris
2006
When Artists Say We, Artist's Space, New York
All Dressed Up With Nowhere to Go, Sorcha Dallas, Glasgow
Between the Lines (organize par Nick Mauss), Hotel Chelsea, New York
2005
Words: The Formal Presence of Text in Modern and Contemporary
Works on Paper, Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York
Nick Mauss & Elizabeth Peyton, Glenn Horowitz Booksellers,
Easthampton, New York
Exile: New York is a Good Hotel, Broadway 1602, New York
2004
Home, American Fine Arts Co., Colin de Land Fine Art, New York
Happy Days Are Here Again, David Zwirner Gallery, New York
Nowojorskie Porno, Foksal Gallery Foundation, Warsaw
The New Romantics, Greene Naftali Gallery, New York
Its About Memory, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago
2003
my people were fair and had cum in their hair, Team Gallery, New York
Now Playing, DAmelio Terras, New York
Todays Man, John Connelly Presents, New York
Karaoke Death Machine, Daniel Reich Gallery, New York
Memory of a Free Festival (Marisha Farnsworth, Shelby Hughes, Alpha
Lubicz, Nick Mauss), Houghton Gallery, Cooper Union School of Art,
New York
2001
Sharing Horizons That Are New to Us, Houghton Gallery, Cooper Union
School of Art, New York
Coal By Any Other Name: The Journey Towards The Good Taste,
American Fine Arts Co., Colin de Land Fine Art, New York
LIVRES D’ARTISTE
2010
Geschenkpapiere, Koenig Books Ltd., Londres
2008
Ken Okiishi, A Fair to Meddling Story, JRP Ringier, Zurich
13
2007
Ken Okiishii, One Season in Hell, Gavin Brown's Enterprise, New York
Lucy McKenzie, Ken Okiishi et Paulina Olowska, “K/L/M/N/O/P - A
Conversation via E-mail”, Noël sur le balcon/HOLD THE COLOR,
Sammlung Goetz, Munich, p. 64-112
2005
Elizabeth Peyton, Nick Mauss and Elizabeth Peyton, Glenn Horowitz
Bookseller, East Hampton, New York
BIBLIOGRAPHIE
2010
Holland Cotter, “Bloodflames III”, The New York Times, 29 octobre, p. 28
David Lewis, “Non-Solo Show, Non-Group Show”, Artforum, n°8, avril,
p.211-212
Steve Pulimood, Art in America, 2 mai, p.116
Simon Baier, “Einsamkeit ist keine Kunst.”, n°77, mars
Nick Mauss & Nikolas Gambaroff, “…and at Some Point the Painting
Starts Again…”, Mousse Magazine, mars
Nick Mauss & Ken Okiishi, “Depuis”, Provence
Dan Fox, “Nick Maus Drawings and anachronisms; books, prototype
designs and romanticism”, Frieze, n°133, septembre, p. 116-117
2009
Dominic Eichler, “How Do These Things Touch Each Other?” Mousse
Magazine, n°20, septembre-octobre, p. 41-45
Joseph R. Wolin, “Ken Okiishi/Nick Maus,” Modern Painters, décembrejanvier
Nick Mauss, “The Poem Will Ressemble You”, Artforum, n°9, mai, p. 184190
2008
Kristy Bell, Frieze, n°112, janvier-février
Joseph R. Wolin, “Feature”, Modern Painters, décembre-janvier
Nick Mauss, Ken Okiishi, “Top Ten”, Artforum, n°7, mars, p. 165-166
Kristin Jones M., "Not So Subtle Subtitle”, Frieze, n°118, octobre
Nick Mauss, “Abandoned Painting: The Art of Jochen Klein”, Artforum,
octobre
2007
Marko Sacher, "Ausstellung als Schnitzeljagd," Stuttgarter Nachrichten,
septembre
Dietholf Zerweck, "Realität mit Fragezeichen”, Esslinger Zeitung, 19
octobre
Raimar Stange, "Da(n)dy Cool”, Spike, n°14, hiver
kbm, "Für einen Moment der vergeht”, tip Magazin, n°20, 20 septembre3 octobre
2006
Linda Yablonsky, "Slides and Prejudice”, ARTnews, avril
Holland Cotter,"Between the Lines”, The New York Times, 24 mars
14
Roberta Smith,"Who Needs a White Cube These Days?," The New York
Times, 13 janvier
2005
Nick Mauss, "The Artist's Artists: Ei Arakawa, RIOT THE BAR", Artforum,
décembre
Holland Cotter, "Mind of a Writer, Hand of an Artist," The New York
Times, 28 octobre
2004
Elizabeth Schambelan, “Works on Paper”, Artforum, 14 février
“Delia Gonzalez & Gavin Russom, Ken Okiishi & Nick Mauss,” Dune (Tokyo) , n° 28
Benjamin Genocchio, “Modern is Offered Trove of Drawings,” The New
York Times, 21 septembre
“Happenings: Home Economics,” New York Magazine, 9 août
Roberta Smith, “Emerging Talent, And Plenty of It,” The New York Times,
12 mars
Michael Wilson, “Nick Mauss and Shelby Hughes / Christian Holstad,”
Artforum, mars
Staniszewski, Jancek. “W Drgawkach Lambady,” Fluid, n°38
Glueck, Grace. “The New Romantics”, The New York Times
“Mlodzi nowojorczycy w Warszawie”, Gazeta Wyborrcza (National
Edition), 24-25 janvier
“Nowojorskie prono,” Gazeta Wyborcza (Co Jest Grane), 23 janvier
Holland Cotter, “Sampling Brooklyn, Where Eclectic Flames Continue to
Flicker,” The New York Times, 23 janvier
Benjamin Genocchio, “How an Art Scene Became a Youthscape,” The
New YorkTimes, 23 janvier
2003
Linda Yablonsky, “Nick Mauss, Shelby Hughes and Christian Holstad,”
Daniel Reich Gallery, Time Out New York, 11 décembre
Kim Levin, “Magnetic Living: Daniel Reich Gallery,” The Village Voice, 10
décembre
Domenick Ammirati, “Now Playing,” Art US, novembre-décembre
Holland Cotter, “By and About Men, and Theyre Running With It,” The
New York Times, 8 août
Susan Carpenter, “The Scope L.A. Festival Trains its Gaze on the Cutting
Edge,” The Los Angeles Times, 17 juillet
Linda Yablonsky,.“Rock’ n Roll Hall of Fame,” Art Review, juillet
Lina Dzuverovic-Russell, “New York: Daniel Reich Gallery: Karaoke Death
Machine,” Contemporary, juillet
Michael Kimmelman, “Now Playing,” The New York Times, 18 juillet
Maika Pollack, “Karaoke Death Machine at Daniel Reich,” Flash Art, maijuin
David Rimanelli, “Karaoke Death Machine at Daniel Reich,” Artforum, été
Ken Johnson, “Karaoke Death Machine,” The New York Times, 2 mai
15
Dan Fox, “Nick Maus Drawings and anachronisms; books, prototype
designs and romanticism”, Frieze, n°133, septembre 2010, p. 16-17.
16
17
18
Steve Pulimood, Art in America, 2 mai 2010, p.116
By Steve Pulimood
New York In 2005, Nick Mauss (b. 1980) was catapulted into the permanent collection of MoMA with its acquisition of over 40 drawings by him,
part of the Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection Gift. They are early works, dating to 2003-04, mostly executed on
marbled paper, and represent prodigious flights of youthful fancy. Colors
explode and dissolve free of the restraint of form, flourishing with Kandinsky-like exuberance. Mauss’s latest work, in marked contrast, is an exercise in finding visual expression for silence. In addition to a new series
of small silver paintings on panel, his installation at 303 included three
large-scale works—Pavilion, Insert and Occasion—each a paragon of
fragile strength. For example, Insert stands 9 feet tall and 10 feet wide,
and is composed of a simple rectilinear white wood structure supporting a
giant sheet of white paper through which an irregular shape has been torn,
as though someone had walked through it.
19
Mauss began the large group of silver paintings (all 2009) that were the
core of the recent exhibition after an intense period of drawing, and they
are finely balanced between the two mediums. He casts the humble line
as the solitary actor, confronting the representational capacity of painting
in much the same way that Jasper Johns does with unmediated gray. But
Mauss’s silver panels are less paintings about paintings than are Johns’s,
and are more elemental in their studies of light and dark. Working with a
severely restricted palette, Mauss manages to convey everything from utter flatness to convincing depth, from nebulousness to palpable forms
such as the central vertical figure in figure in a loom.
Before laying down the aluminum leaf that doubles for silver and resists
tarnishing, Mauss covers the wooden panels with a black acrylic ground.
Using a range of techniques, from rubbing and rasping to stenciling, he
creates palimpsests in which each mark is recorded, lost and reinscribed.
In their simplicity, the silver paintings are reminiscent of those children’s
plastic tablets on which one can record a thought or a drawing and just as
easily erase it. At the same time, their shiny surfaces prompt the viewer to
look from multiple angles, as if staring at the dance of light on moving
water. Mauss’s delicacy recalls a similar quality in the work of Paul Klee,
who so often conveyed a sense of pleasure in creation.
Photo: Nick Mauss: silent adjustments, 2009, mixed mediums on panel,
193⁄4 by 153⁄4 inches; at 303.
20
Dominic Eichler, “How Do These Things Touch Each Other?” Mousse
Magazine, n°20, septembre-octobre 2009, p. 41-45.
21
Ken Okiishi & Nick Mauss, One Season in Hell, 2006/2007
courtesy: Galerie Neu, Berlin.
When we try to visualize an idea, its borders inevitably seem hazy. Translated into form, this could suggest images composed of light traces, undulating lines, blurred brushstrokes. In the works on paper by Nick Mauss,
every mark is a citation. This New York artist, born in 1980, invites us to
visualize the world of his imagination, made up of stylized memories.
•
•
&%&
$
!
#
$"
$
"
$
"
!$
22
!
"%
" $&
!"("!$
%(
(!$
("%!
$"
"%!"
$
% !&
!%
&
!$
#"$!!
!"$
!!!% &
"$
" &
%
""!'
!"!
$ "$!!
!%
&!
! "
!$"%
!!
!"
"&
!$
"(!%"(&
$$
"("$ !"%
"!"
"!
$!
%(!"%
$"!
&$&
!"$"!%
23
##"*+)
#,& !# (*""
**
("#"& (#*#&
"##"# #$(
#)
&
#! (
#! ")
(!#(
#"
" ("#*
# (
% &
&0//1-0//2
#' #' &(
## !!
)
()
!((( &# )!& &
#!(""""
&
""&! !&&(*!"#
#
"&"# #
!" #"
#".!"&# !""(
""" 24
!#"$"! ,#"%!"
"" !"! #"""!#""#"'# "# , !"$% $! "!"$ !"'# $%"
'# !.$% !"'# % *
"'!"'# !! "'
"" "!"/!!!
!#".!#!"!"# $,"
!""#"'% '%!#",
"#""'!!!" ""
%!"!" '$# * '!"*%"""!!" "
%#$%#"!!!$,"!"!*#"%!$
"-!!!""!" #"!""!" #" !*
"$% !, !'#
% "#"%"""0 "
#1*%!#"# $ !,
&"*" '"!!"(
"! "$% *"!!#!,!"#"% "$% !!""$% " ","/!"%'!$"#!% /!% *"""%"
" '!" ,
"'# !"!!"!
!% %" "' #"
!"!"" ,
"",
!)
#!!*
*433524336
# "!'+# "!'+ #* ,
25
#$%# !* &#( #(' '$
$$%%%*#& $&%$&%
' )!% %%-$,%#0$ '#.
# #%% '%$'#* !, #
'!% &%-$ %%0$#.
%#% % #% #"&%.
-&%%%$%(% % #&$%#% - ! !%%%$#.
#$! $! $% - ! !% %$ (-
&%(%$ ! !%%(%% &$/3&$4*( #'#*%$ .
%%,%%%0$ ' &$-%%#*
% $$ #% (%$ %%%
! $$%*%%%$&$% ##$
$0%)$%,$ %%'#*%$&.
%%#-
&%%%$%%#%&#2 #)!
%(#%$ % 2$
$&$ #$###&*.
$0$ "& #%3$!,
6:984#)%#*! #%%% * &- #
)!,* &#( #$)% %%$
%% #*%% #, #&$
"& %$- % %$ '$&+% (%!!$(#-* &$%#%
% )% #%!$$$* &$%#%% %% $&#%% %.
% !,(%* &0#%(%%#
#&$%%$&#$ #%$$%
%# ! %$$%)%-0'$%#%
% % &% (% !!*%$ %1% $!$,%$%.
% #($!!#.$&!%&#$
%&7559,(#%$%%!.
!! %*#((#%
% %$!#%
%$%$-%!!$%$$&!.
%&#$, #(*%$)%,$ (%$
%$% & %#-
#(*#%*
)%% %#/
#(*#%*$ #% &# %#/#$% (.
(#$$ #'% %&#'-
26
!$#
!$#$
(!!
-0//1.&
"##
!#&)*'
+##&
&!
"#
!)#&
#,
!&
'
& '
#$
!#!
&%#!"'
#(%
#!#
#)!$
!&
27
Nick Mauss, “Abandoned Painting”, Artforum, n°2, octobre 2008, p. 356361.
Nick Mauss, Ken Okiishi, “Top Ten”, Artforum, n°7, mars 2008, p. 165166.
Kristy Bell, Frieze, n°112, janvier-février 2008.
Kristy Bell, Frieze, n°112, janvier-février
Kristy Bell, “Nick Mauss“, Frieze, n°112, janvier-février 2008.
28
Kristy Bell, « Nick M auss », Frieze, n°112, janvier-février 2008.
Nick Mauss
Galerie Neu, Berlin, Germany
‘Lymph Est’, the first solo show in Berlin of recent work by New York
artist Nick Mauss, brought a broadening of scope and scale to the intricate, allusive drawings and paintings first shown in New York some four
or five years ago, with their swirling marbled surfaces like vintage endpapers and graphic renderings of turn-of-the-century cultural dandies. Here
the seduction factor was turned down a notch or two in favour of an expansion of the white space between pictorial fragments, but the framed
works on paper and delicate new sculptures in this exhibition still reeked
of another time.
Any number of media may occur within the works on paper; a tissue of
watercolour, acrylic, pastel or pencil marks accumulates, suggesting a
time of ornate skirting boards and picture frame mouldings, curving banisters and lampposts, black frock coats, white dress shirts and earnest
conversation. Claude Debussy is here, as is George Sand, but more often
than not the period is conveyed in passing by a jumble of details set adrift
amid white expanses, on sheets of paper that are considerably larger than
in previous works. While this hasn’t led to a change in the scale of the
motifs themselves, they pool together, rising like bits of debris to the surface. Sometimes they remain half-submerged: all we can make out is an
undulating line, shadowy brushstrokes that suggest a face or a halfformed letter, but it is nonetheless clear that every mark here is a quotation. They may turn up again across the room in another work or be repeated within one drawing. Frame-like devices come up repeatedly and,
often incomplete, suggest a tentative relationship between the marks and
their paper support, an awareness of centuries’ worth of other such marks
– drawings, words, photographs – on similar paper supports. ‘I work to
put the formation of my sensibility and a trail of influences in the foreground’, Mauss has said. But where does this trail lead? His borrowed
fragments do not fuse together to form a new whole; they remain independent and mute. The effect is like Cathy Wilkes’ elaborate sculptural
arrangements, which almost dissolve in attempts to decipher them, or
Wade Guyton’s paintings, where aesthetic effects are blamed on random
technical accident and the artist’s self-conscious neutrality constructs a
distance from the historical images he borrows.
Mauss’ sculptures are materially a mere side-step away from his works on
paper, but they not only open up another physical dimension but also enable a conceptual expansion, smartly transforming an elegant drawings
29
show into something less definable. Large, flimsy sheets of aluminium,
silk-screened with a convincingly grey-white ‘paper’ colour and appended with fragmented line drawings or photographic images, are
propped up against the wall, roughly folded to stand upright, lie on the
floor or are cut and their corners folded over to reveal more imagery
printed on the reverse. They behave like paper, and their insubstantiality
echoes the drawings’ pictorial fragility, but more important is the subtle
move away from the walls they enact. Although their threedimensionality is almost notional, they pick up on the interior spaces represented in the drawings, of staircases or corners, more stage sets than the
solid Parisian drawing-rooms they picture, to suggest a theatrical space
for the staging of recollection.
On one of the sculptures, lying on the floor, a textual fragment is printed:
the first line, printed on the reverse of the aluminium, has been cut around
and folded over like a book page to reveal the words – a thin strip undulating like the drawings’ many loose lines. The text is taken from a short
story by early 20th-century British writer Denton Welch and refers to the
exhibition’s obscure title: ‘I cannot, of course, explain what the words
mean. They just came to me one day, and I repeated them over and over
again, until they turned into an incantation.’ Of course, we apply this
quote to Mauss’ own work: a dream-like, incantatory, mechanistic approach to art-making where ideas, memories, influences float inadvertently to the surface. An unusually messy drawing hanging nearby,
seemingly dragged straight from the studio floor, substantiates this.
Brushstrokes try out different paint colours; a schematic scene is repeated
upside down; a pencil staircase leads nowhere. By playing the
daydreamer, a doodler afflicted with a dandyish ennui, Mauss assumes a
detachment from the decisions that occur within his work. A calculated
vagueness is at play. In this way his role is as theatrical and selfconsciously ‘framed’ as the works’ imagery. Their plucked references call
on history to provide a backdrop for an artistic practice now, while the
white void in which they float conveys the temporal breach of their impossible cross-century straddle.
Kirsty Bell