"galerie frank elbaz @ 75 FAUBOURG"

At the friendly invitation of Emmanuel Barth and Enrico Navarra, Galerie Frank Elbaz is delighted to present a selection of its artists at 75 Faubourg.

Ketuta ALEXI-MESKHISHVILI (born in 1979 in Tbilisi, Georgia) is a Georgian-American photographer who studied at Bard College, NY under Stephen Shore, An My Lee and Barbara Ess. Images she makes are straight snapshots or intricately staged photographs, which then undergo a process of altering by hand or digital means, or a mix of both. The multilayered manner in which she combines these interventions, while experimental and often intuitive, converges on a conceptual logic of choreographing and staging not just surfaces, but the conditions of photographic representation.

Davide BALULA (born in 1978 in Vila Dum Santo, Portugal) investigates chance encounters, random patterns, and the materiality of time. Although he works within various media, including sound, installation and painting, his art can takes the form of recording devices, unusual measuring tools, and scientific experiments. He regularly collaborates with chefs, dancers, and musicians on performances and improvisation concerts. 

Sheila HICKS (born in 1934 in Hastings, USA), stemming from the long tradition of modern art which links abstraction to multiple disciplines, revisits traditional artisanal textile, blurring the boundaries between painting and sculpture with her work. After studying under Josef Albers at Yale, she started working with fibers during a journey in South America from 1958 to 1959, where she investigated artisanal fabrics; it then became her main medium. Sheila Hicks views her work as a process which results in the viewer interacting with the work she creates as well as the architecture it inhabits. 

Kaz OSHIRO (born in 1967 in Okinawa, Japan)’s work focuses on illusion and trompe-l’oeil: he is most famous for his life-size hyperrealist replicas of everyday objects such as trashcans or washing machines. These three-dimensional artifacts, made with canvases put together, are blurring the boundaries between painting and sculpture. The back of the works is purposely exposed, to reveal its complex structure, thus breaking the illusion created by the painting and showing the process of their making. Influenced by pop and minimalist American artists as well as by Duchamp’s readymades, Oshiro uses these historical references to reinterpret the genre of still-life; he sees his work as three-dimensional still-lifes abandoned on the floor of the gallery. His work gives back interest and life to used, ordinary and utilitarian objects. 

Ari MARCOPOULOS (born in 1957 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands), since arriving in New York in 1979, has documented the diverse sub-cultures of American youth. His photographs and videos depict the brash vitality of underground music and the rebellious athleticism of extreme sports. His straightforward portraits and lush snapshots capture everyday moments of beauty and anxiety, becoming, as he says, “something that just stands for life lived.”

Bernard PIFFARETTI (born in 1955 in Saint-Etienne, France) bases his practice on repetition while analyzing the components of painting. Graduating from the school of Fine Arts in Saint-Etienne in 1979, he fixed in 1986 his “Piffaretti system”1986, a protocol at the origin of every work he produces: each is composed of two panels apparently identical, separated by a vertical strip ; one of the two parts is an attempt to duplicate the other, made beforehand. Once both panels are finished, the distinction between the copy and the original tends to fade. As the artist admits himself, Piffaretti’s system aims at showing us this impossible reproduction of the artistic gesture. In some works, the second part is even left irremediably blank, because of the complexity of the shapes painted. 

Mungo THOMSON (born in 1969 in Davis, USA) explores popular culture and everyday objects in his recent series, using elements such as the covers of the notorious Time magazine or a deck of playing cards. In his “Compositions” series, the cards are shuffled then thrown into the air ; the resulting formation on the floor is photographed and translated into an image on linen via digital embroidery. Thomson has recently started working on the series “Rods and Cones”, exploring optical art by transforming junk “circulars” pages related to vision into paintings. Influenced by the “Light and Space” movement and its claims for Southern California light, he introduces light into these images both as a function of vision, and as a self-conscious artifact of California art. Thus, through his eclectic body of work, Thomson leads us to question what we take for granted.