INSTALLATIONS THAT SEDUCED ME AND CIRCLES WHICH DIDN'T
After a rather disappointing moment with Sonia Delaunay - but we'll get to that later - I was attracted to this statue which looked remarkably like the Samothrace at the Louvre. Alright, I'm pushing it a bit, but even so....up the stairs I go.
Little did I expect to discover a very exciting artist. David Altmejd. Canadian from Montreal, we may well gave seen his work in the Canadian pavilion in the Venice Biennale in 2007. I am ashamed to say that I don't remember!
This was his first retrospective in France. You know my love of installations, but this work bowled me over.
He's a sculptor and uses space in an unknown manner for me. Sometimes they are monumental and who knows a summary of the artist's world? The diversity of materials which includes minerals, artificial flowers, mirrors everywhere and so much so that the spectator becomes an intricate part of the work, plexiglass and even stuffed animals. The sheer size is quite something in itself.
So many obvious references too to artists we know.....Bosch, Louise Bourgeois, Max Earnst, Goya, Acimboldo were just some I picked up, there were certainly others.
Becoming part of his space is a real experience. The first moment I saw the mirror broken, I put it down to poor handling in setting up those giants. Not at all. Just part of his work that I seemed to become part. David, I will be looking out for you.
On the other hand I may not be crossing streets again to see Sophie Delaunay.
I have a very clear picture of my Mother welcoming cousins in Paris. Her eyes were wider than wide when she saw the coat that the cousin's wife was wearing. When this young woman paraded the coat in front of us, Mother's comments were far from complimentary. We never saw the cousins again and the coat looked quite like this.
Mother muttered later that she thought the coat was a very poor collage made up of useless materials. That is exactly how I felt about Sophie Delaunay's fashion. In fact by the time I got to this gallery, I was pretty fed up with circles and an abstraction which did nothing for me. I can't take much of her husband's work either although the small exhibition at the Beaubourg was enjoyable. However, I did experience a joint exhibition of their work at th Beaubourg in 2003 and remember vaguely that my eyes were swimming with circles at the end. As is often the case, I appreciated her early work. A Fauve influence along with Matisse - even this portrait seemed to be Picasso oriented.
Some other combinations of realism and her use of colours was also pleasant to look at.
The two small pictures that I really liked were done with Hans Arp. Just after Sonia’s husband died. Unfortunately I can find no trace of them on Internet. Minimalist and just the right amount of abstraction. Of course there was work I liked but not all those waves and circles with what seemed to be a recurrence of a red spot which really made me wonder if I was seeing things again.
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| (Watchers) Untitltled 2014 |
Little did I expect to discover a very exciting artist. David Altmejd. Canadian from Montreal, we may well gave seen his work in the Canadian pavilion in the Venice Biennale in 2007. I am ashamed to say that I don't remember!
This was his first retrospective in France. You know my love of installations, but this work bowled me over.
He's a sculptor and uses space in an unknown manner for me. Sometimes they are monumental and who knows a summary of the artist's world? The diversity of materials which includes minerals, artificial flowers, mirrors everywhere and so much so that the spectator becomes an intricate part of the work, plexiglass and even stuffed animals. The sheer size is quite something in itself.
So many obvious references too to artists we know.....Bosch, Louise Bourgeois, Max Earnst, Goya, Acimboldo were just some I picked up, there were certainly others.
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| Untitled 2011 |
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| Untitled 2011 |
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| Untitled 2011 |
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| Untitled 2011 |
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| Untitled 9 (Body Builder) 2014 |
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| Untitled 9 (Body Builder) 2014 |
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| Body Builder 2 Untitled |
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| The Flux and the Puddle |
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| The Flux and the Puddle |
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| The Flux and the Puddle |
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| The Flux and the Puddle |
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| January 2008 |
Becoming part of his space is a real experience. The first moment I saw the mirror broken, I put it down to poor handling in setting up those giants. Not at all. Just part of his work that I seemed to become part. David, I will be looking out for you.
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| Man 2 2014 |
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| Man 2 2014 |
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| The Island 2011 |
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| Part of the show |
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| Part of the show |
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| La Chambre d'hôte |
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| The Flux and the Puddle |
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| The Flux and the Puddle |
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| The Flux and the Puddle |
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| The Flux and the Puddle |
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| Untitled 2009 |
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| Untitled 2011 |
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| Untitled 2011 |
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| The Swarm |
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| The Swarm |
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| The Swarm |
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| The Swarm |
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| The Swarm |
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| The Swarm 2011 |
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| Untitled (Swallows) 2014 |
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| Untitled (Swallows) 2014 |
On the other hand I may not be crossing streets again to see Sophie Delaunay.
I have a very clear picture of my Mother welcoming cousins in Paris. Her eyes were wider than wide when she saw the coat that the cousin's wife was wearing. When this young woman paraded the coat in front of us, Mother's comments were far from complimentary. We never saw the cousins again and the coat looked quite like this.
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| 1913 |
Mother muttered later that she thought the coat was a very poor collage made up of useless materials. That is exactly how I felt about Sophie Delaunay's fashion. In fact by the time I got to this gallery, I was pretty fed up with circles and an abstraction which did nothing for me. I can't take much of her husband's work either although the small exhibition at the Beaubourg was enjoyable. However, I did experience a joint exhibition of their work at th Beaubourg in 2003 and remember vaguely that my eyes were swimming with circles at the end. As is often the case, I appreciated her early work. A Fauve influence along with Matisse - even this portrait seemed to be Picasso oriented.
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| Young Finish girl 1907 |
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| Portrait of the artist Kahler 1907 |
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| Techouiko 1908 |
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| Young Finish girl 1907 |
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| Flamenco singers 1916 |
Some other combinations of realism and her use of colours was also pleasant to look at.
The two small pictures that I really liked were done with Hans Arp. Just after Sonia’s husband died. Unfortunately I can find no trace of them on Internet. Minimalist and just the right amount of abstraction. Of course there was work I liked but not all those waves and circles with what seemed to be a recurrence of a red spot which really made me wonder if I was seeing things again.
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