30 YEARS OLD AND STILL NEEDS TO LEARN

juillet 26, 2014

The Fondation Cartier for Contemporary Art in Paris is having its 30th birthday. Though an offshoot of the deluxe jewellery brand, it lives in a splendid isolation from its parent, as no artist who collaborates with the Fondation is never allowed near Cartier's product development department.

The collection is impressive as today they have over 1,300 pieces - sculptors, designers, painters, musicians….you name it.

It all started in the Chateau of Jouy-en-Josas which is outside of Paris in the department called the Yvelines. I clearly remember my Mother discovering it and coming home in raptures. As the transport to get there without a car is tedious, I hope she was still driving or had someone to drive her.

I had hoped to go with a very good friend who was over from Australia but difficult to believe, the foundation was closed for four days and it would happen to fall on one of the days we had planned. So today, I would walk across the Luxembourg gardens and over to the Foundation in Bd Raspail.
This year the Fondation is 30 years old, and there's plenty to celebrate. "Vivid Memories", which makes the most of the Fondation's concept on blurring boundaries between design, music, film and fine art. Jean Paul Gaultier made dresses from bread here in 2004..... that is just one example...however, where there have always been a concept in the exhibitions I have seen - a logical way of unterstanding the exhibition - Here I didn't feel it at all.

Looking at the impressive list of exhibits and exhibitions over 30 years, I discovered that the first I must have seen was in the early 90’s - Issy Miyake, and then there was a break until the 2000 mark. I have seen ten in all. Quite a few of those have Blog chapters. Most were very exciting. Not all in my book could be termed as contemporary art. Modern perhaps.   

The exhibition lasts until next year and Exhibits will rotate throughout the show’s run. We were given a pink pamphlet which indicates what the exhibits artist and sometimes a little about the work. I was NOT the only one who just couldn’t understand the logic. Knowing who the artist is, is one thing but as the titles were often ambiguous, printed on the walls and usually nowhere near the piece in question - we were all roaming around like lost dogs. Then giving up and telling one another what we thought we were looking at. I guess that is one way to chat to other people. No photographs of course, so I took a lot off the Net….looked up the titles and images in the brochure we had been given on Internet. Even then, it was not easy. I will go back as there are other moments I hope to see. The exhibition on Mathematics,
Yu-MinJun, Beat Takashi Kitana, Born in the Streets (graffiti), Rock N'Roll and certainly others. Ron Mueck was there with his « In Bed » -that sculpture still reminds of a « man of the past »! I just hope to goodness that the next series for September-October, will be a little easier to understand. I can’t say that I was in raptures before what I saw this time but I wont miss the next series - and probably the one after that before the exhibition finishes.