STEADY BUSINESS - Le Quotidien de l'Art

FIAC Daily Edition
ISSUE 9 / OCTOBER 20TH 2011 / WWW.LEQUOTIDIENDELART.COM
STEADY BUSINESS
P A R R O X A N A A Z I M I
For the exhibitors on the ground floor of FIAC, who had
been waiting for the collectors since 10 am, the fair must have
seemed rather like the Marie Céleste. In fact, the organisers
had made sure that the VIPs started off by doing the rounds
of the younger galleries (or not so young) situated in FIAC’s
upper galleries. As it was, some of them, for example Johann
König (Berlin) with Helen Marten’s solo show, made a splash
right from the off. The Berlin gallery received the Galeries
Lafayette prize and every single one of Marten’s works was
purchased by Guillaume Houzé. “I think that FIAC works
better than Frieze, there’s more spirit to it, says Johann König.
Frieze has a stronger curatorial image, but it is more interesting
to make purchases here. I have seen more things here that I’d like
to buy than I did in London.” The feeling seems to be mutual:
two collectors from Aachen tell us they decided to visit FIAC
this year rather than Frieze. The explanation for choosing
to let the young galleries benefit first from the preview is
understandable… they are situated in difficult spaces, which
are often hard to find due to a lack of clear directions. “Some
collectors who had come for the ground floor exhibitors were furious
at having been made to go to the ‘kindergarten’ first”, remarks a
visitor. Nevertheless there was absolutely no reason to get angry
or critical: this section was as varied as the works were of
high quality. Moreover, there were some discoveries to be made
such as Elisabetta Benassi at Magazzino (Rome) and Robert
Heinecken showcased by Cherry and Martin (Los Angeles): a
large collage by the latter found a buyer immediately. A Belgian
collector snapped up a piece by Angel Vergara at Cortex Athletico
(Bordeaux), whereas the Parisian gallery Laurent Godin
sold one of Peter Buggenhout’s two sculptures to an Israeli.
However the art dealers on the ground floor were champing
at the bit. All the more so because the day before, during the
busy installation period, some of them had missed the furtive
visit of billionaire collectors François Pinault and Bernard
Arnault who came while many gallerists were at the dinner
organised by the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.
Finally a high-key atmosphere took over. “It is every bit as good
as we hoped”, confides Michele Casamonti from the Parisian
John McCracken Flower, 2008 Courtesy David Zwirner
gallery Tornabuoni, which saw three works reserved for a total
of 3 million Euros. “Compared to two or three years ago, we have
noticed that people are aware that the art market is autonomous.
There is less an impression of paralysis.” As for the New York
gallery David Zwirner, they sold a John McCracken’s fuchsia
piece to Thierry Gillier, the owner of Zadig & Voltaire, through
consultant Patricia Marshall. “It’s fantastic, much better than
last year” in the opinion of Paula Cooper (New York), who
sold Patricia Marshall a piece by Sherrie Levine. “Here we can
once again concentrate on art”, declares Barbara Gladstone (New
York, Brussels), who is showcasing Andro Wekua. But even if
the English and American galleries seem outwardly happy, for
some pleased with the atmosphere, for others the fair’s location
at the Grand Palais, they are sometimes disconcerted by FIAC’s
slower rhythm. “People forget that each fair has its own rhythm.
Here something happens every day and it’s important not to forget
that the fair lasts a week”, underlines Adam Sheffer, the director
of New-York gallery Cheim & Read, which has already sold a
Louise Bourgeois sculpture for around 1 million dollars to a
Saudi Arabian collector, and a painting by Chantal Joffe to a
South African collector for 70,000 dollars. Other exhibitors
are reserving their judgement on business done until the end
of the week. ❚

INTERVIEW
II
THE ART DAILY NEWS / ISSUE 9 / THURSDAY OCTOBER 20TH 2011
“I am a magician
who reveals his secrets”
L E A N D R O E R L I C H , A R T I S T
Leandro Erlich, Bâtiment
A conversation with the Argentinean
artist Leandro Erlich, who
is currently showing two pieces
in ‘In Perception’, a group exhibition
at t he CentQuatre
in Paris, until December 9th.
R. A. At the CentQuatre, you are showing
a piece that you presented in the courtyard
of the Paris Observatory in 2004
during the ‘Nuit Blanche’ contemporary
art event. It was the first time you used
an outdoor setting, whereas your works
usually interact with interiors.
L. E. All of these everyday spaces are interesting;
these insignificant spaces, devoid
of any symbolic meaning, but that are part
of our environment, such as staircases and
landings whose very functionality means
that we pay no attention to them. It is interesting to take
this kind of space and to poetically transform what is ordinary
into something extraordinary.
R. A. Do you see yourself as an illusionist
L. E. In each of my works there is an element that plays
with perception, but my intention is to create a poetical
moment based on the public’s experience, rather than
to invite them to participate in a purely perceptual and
phenomenological experiment. My work is specific in
that it consists of two dimensions. On the one hand, it is
accessible and can be understood and appreciated even if
the public is not necessarily aware of art history. On the
other hand, by playing with symbolic or metaphorical elements,
I try to create a context which encourages a more
profound reflection on our definition of what is real and
leads us to question our certitudes. I am a magician who
reveals his secrets. I want the spectator to understand the
process. I’m not trying to hide how the trick works, but to
let it be discovered.
R. A. Is it by choice that you are showing two ‘fun’ pieces
L. E. These pieces are participative and that element is at
the heart of what I do: it is the key to letting the public truly
take possession of my work. I like to consider my pieces
like a film set or a stage on which the public becomes an
actor in a fiction.
R. A. An actor or the scriptwriter
L. E. Both, except that you can’t read the scenario beforehand.
You are free to play your part, but also to write your
own story and construct your experience as you want.
In Changing Rooms, there is a powerful optical phenomenon;
your reflection disappears from
the mirror. Our reflection is a proof of
our existence. It’s important for me that
people participate actively, but exactly
what they do or how they do it doesn’t
really interest me all that much. I don’t
see the public as hamsters that I can
observe in their cage, running around
and around on their wheel. I have no
control over the impact my piece will
have on a person. Some find my works
amusing because they do contain an
element of humour, even if this humour
can sometimes be caustic. In any case,
it’s not my intention to give the public a
bad experience, to make them ill at ease.
It’s not my aim. Afterwards things escape
our control.
R. A. Do your mazes find their inspiration in literature,
more precisely in the work of the author Jorge Luis
Borges, who is Argentinean like you
L. E. Making references or quoting other artists is not
the way I imagine my pieces. More than Borges, perhaps
what influenced my work the most was the architectural
sites I visited as a child and which allowed me to develop
a relationship with space.
R. A. What has changed in Bâtiment, the piece that was
first exhibited at the Paris Observatory and which has
now moved to the CentQuatre
L. E. Here at the CentQuatre, the facade is made up of
a mixture of photographic images and volumes, whereas
during the Nuit Blanche, it was a simple photographic
impression on a sheet of canvas. I have refined my work:
the fact that it will be exhibited here for three months
instead of just ten hours makes a difference.
R. A. Changing Rooms is also the continuation of another
work that you exhibited at Galeria Continua in Le
Moulin (Boissy-Le-Châtel, France)...
L. E. A painter finds in one painting the elements that
will help him/her to continue with the next. If a painter
falls in love with a blob of red paint, he/she will start the
following canvas with the very same red blob. Personally,
I don’t like the idea of repeating yourself, but adding
something, why not. It is always interesting to revisit
something and to work on it again. ❚
INTERVIEW : ROXANA AZIMI
CENTQUATRE, 5 rue Curial, 75019 Paris. www.104.fr

TODAY IN PARIS
III
With ‘Chambres
à part’, Laurence
Dreyfus won’t be
sleeping on her feet.
P A R A L E X A N D R E C R O C H E T
‘Chambres à part’
(Separate rooms) is an
event imagined and
organised by Laurence
Dreyfus as part of the
FIAC VIP program. For
its fifth edition, ‘Chambres
à part’ has descended
upon a brand
A room at Shangri-la
new Hotel Shangri-La.
So it’s ‘bye bye’ to the
contemporary decor of La Réserve’s apartments and ‘hello’ to a
300 m2 listed site: Prince Roland Bonaparte’s Imperial Suite, its
gilding and soft, deep armchairs. Isn’t this an unusual setting
for contemporary art lovers you may wonder: “I wanted people
to feel at ease. In these troubled times, this comfortable and luxurious
location provides a feeling of safety. Moreover, I don’t like to get
stuck in a rut”, explains Laurence Dreyfus. “I wanted to surprise
all those people who follow what I do.” Entrance is free, but on
reservation only: a deliberate restriction to limit the number of
visitors at any one time. “But everybody is welcome, from students
to art collectors.”
Laurence is a young woman who has without a doubt fallen
in love with the Chinese art scene “that of the second generation
which is more interesting than the first, with the exception of the
diaspora.” And what do all the works in her selection have in
common They are by artists who have mastered technique and
who avoid the pitfall of producing conceptual art at all costs,
thus “preserving the pleasure of looking”. She has partnered them
with some of the big names of western art such as Olafur Eliasson,
whose work has been placed in the shower room. Next
to classic artists such as Zao Wou-Ki (his bluish landscape in
a limited edition of eight is priced 10,000 Euros exclusive of
tax) and Wang Keping (with several wooden sculptures and
an edition of metal boxes at 3,500 Euros each), we stop in our
tracks in front of Wang Jianwei’s sumptuous video; a 13 minute
performance on the theme of the conflict between generations
in China (30,000 Euros). Zhang Huan, Ai Wei Wei and Yu
Hong, to name but a few, round off this panorama of Chinese
contemporary art. Several of them are to be found in Qiao Zhibing’s
collection (see our edition dated October 19 th ). ❚
LINES & FIGURES: CONVERSATIONS, until October 23rd. Hôtel Shangri-
La, 10 avenue d’Iéna, 75016 Paris. Reservation: 01 45 62 21 52 and info@
laurencedreyfus.com
THE ART DAILY NEWS / ISSUE 9 / THURSDAY OCTOBER 20TH 2011
Slick, the young
art fair
P A R D A M I E N S A U S S E T
Over the years, Slick’s
aim has been to become the
art fair for emerging artists
and to this end, this year as
always, the fair gives pride of
place to new galleries such
as Inception (Paris), which
is showing Ahmed Mater,
the young Saudi Arabian
prodigy (5,000 to 32,000
Euros). Another newcomer
is Backslash Gallery (Paris),
where you can discover
works by Rero, one of the Rero at Backslash gallery
future stars of contemporary
art and whose background is in street art. And let’s
not forget Galerie Gourvennec Ogor, a new arrival from
Marseille. And what about the rest of the fair Slick presents
a well-thought-out cocktail, which balances exciting pieces
and works that comply more with the contemporary art
norm. Amongst the surprises: we enjoyed Lance Letscher’s
post-Dadaist collages at Galerie Vidal, Boris Mikhailov’s
photos at Galerie Suzanne Tarasiève (Paris), the table-sculpture
symbolising money-laundering around the world by
François Mazabraud (Galerie De Roussan, Paris), views of
abandoned theatres in the United States by Yves Marchand
and Romain Meffre (Polka, from 2,500 to 11,700 Euros)
and Elmar Trenkwalder’s sculptures at Bernard Jordan…
A major happening is to be found at Sk8Room.com with
skateboards customised by Damien Hirst, Christopher Wool
and John Baldessari... Laurent Boudier, the fair’s artistic
director shared a few comments with us on this new approach:
«Our idea consists in inviting new galleries, but that
would never work without the presence of well-established
and more renowned galleries (Tarasiève, Jordan, Bernard
Bouche…). We have also launched Slick Project: stands devoted
to just one unique work of art (Jean Denant, Thierry
Lagalla, Lyndi Sales…). What we didn’t want was a fair that
was nothing more than a succession of booths, presenting
a series of homogenous works, albeit by blue chip artists.
We wanted to surprise.» In answer to our questions about
the fair’s future, his answer was categorical: «The key to our
future is in Brussels without a doubt. We are preparing an
edition in the centre of Brussels for 2012, at the same time
as Art Brussels. The location is still secret, but there will be
some marvellous discoveries to be made.” ❚
UNTIL OCTOBER 23 RD , SLICK, 11-13 Avenue du Président Wilson,
75116 Paris. Tel: 01 47 03 09 60, www.slick-paris.com