Press Release: Michel François
New Works 04.1
03.18.04
New Works: 04.1
March 18 ?y 9, 2004
Michel François Brussels, Belgium
Oliver Herring Brooklyn, New York
Michael Velliquette San Antonio, Texas
Selected by Lawrence Rinder
About the Artist
Through videos, photographs, books, and installations Michel François
breathes new life into materials and spaces, as well as the act of creating and
looking at art. François transforms otherwise static, white galleries into theatrical
settings where holes appear in unexpected places and everyday items, purchased
or scavenged, are poignantly juxtaposed.
François' installations creep around doorways and through walls, mirroring
the idea of the rhizome?on-hierarchical, fluid way of operating theorized by
Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari. As opposed to a vertical structure, such as a
tree, a rhizome spreads laterally and diffusely, like a nettle. It has no top, no
center, no culminating point. A rhizomatic structure is a series of interconnected
nodes, and while some may be larger than others, none is ultimately most
important. Like a rhizome, the distinct parts of François' installations ebb and
flow, receding and advancing to create entities that are in flux but nonetheless
recognizable.
Revitalizing the familiar, François investigates the tension between public and
private, and art and non-art. Stage lights, newspapers, plants, and tobacco
reappear in various installations?times becoming more or less important. For
The Plant in Ourselves (2001) François pried into the history of a Nazi-era
museum by exposing original marble and old walls. Lights shone on original
details. A stately cactus brought organic matter into the art space. Visitors were
given clay with which to mark up a room. In this installation, as in others, François
refashioned the ordinary into the extraordinary. His amorphous, sculptural
creation wavered between clarity and mystery?ween explicit politics and
beautification of the space.
Born and based in Brussels, Belgium in 1956, Michel François spends time in
Amsterdam, the Netherlands, where he teaches at the Rijksakademie. Recent solo
exhibitions include the WestfŠlischer Kunstverein, Munich, Germany (2003); the Centre
George Pompidou, Paris, France (2002); the Fundaci— Mir—, Barcelona, Spain
(2001); the Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany (2001); the Kunstahalle Bern, Bern,
Switzerland (2000), and the 48th Venice Biennale, Italy (1999).
About the Project
ThŽ‰tre des OpŽrations is composed of distinct moments linked
together like a rhizome, its dispersed elements creating no singular core. The
installation slips easily between multiple references to theater: arena of war, space
for performance, noun to describe artmaking.
François obscures the initial view of the gallery with a screen that flutters with
a whirring fan. Beyond the screen is a table set for a reception. A pyramid of
glasses lies in wait, but instead of wine ink spills from the top, staining a
tablecloth fashioned from the daily stock exchange listings. The decanter, since
removed, was a plastic eagle, which also served used as an ice mold to form a
frozen black eagle that melted away.
Behind the reception table a metal armature anchors theater lights that cast a
circus of shadows, including some on a "stage" at the back of the room. The wall
here has been explosively perforated, and beyond it a fire appears to smolder. The
area is spot lit and decorated with a giant agave plant. In front of a miniature door
sits a microphone, poised as if awaiting public address; yet an oversized speaker
emits the sounds of frogs rather than the head of state one expects. Again
confounding expectations, the doorway reveals nothing but a projection of a
backstage? bare wood contrasting with white walls to compound the sense
that all is artifice.
The theater of politics is expressed by other elements in the space. There is an
enormous photograph of an empty stadium and one of a tattered flag. A metal
sheet lined with magnetic strips becomes an abstracted flag, and François sculpts
another out of a long tube of popcorn and a rectangle of light cast on the wall.
Nearby a plastic bag, stuffed with white styrofoam and bound with black tape, sits
on a blue cloth inside a vitrine covered with red text reading THE FLAG SHOW.
With its empirical red, white, and blue, the object suggests yet another reference
to patriotism.
With ThŽ‰tre des OpŽrations Michel François has sculpted a
multifaceted project that suggests that theater is a thread binding together
politics, performance, artmaking, and ultimately the act of viewing art.
Exhibition Dates
March 18 ?y 9, 2004
Opening Reception
Thursday, March 18, 6:30-8:30 PM
Artists' Dialogue
Friday, March 19, 6:30-8:00 PM
Featuring Michel François, Oliver Herring, and Michael Velliquette. Moderated by
Lawrence Rinder, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New
York, New York.
Brown Bag Lunch
Wednesday, April 14, 12:00-1:00 PM
Join Education and Curatorial Associate Kate Green for a tour of New Works:
04.1 and a brown bag lunch provided by Sip. Please call Artpace for
reservations.
Event Locations
All events held at Artpace, 445 N. Main Avenue. Free parking at Flores Street and
Savings. Artpace is open to the public Wednesday thru Sunday, 12-5pm,
Thursday until 8pm and by appointment. There is no charge for admission.
About Artpace
Artpace San Antonio serves as an advocate for contemporary art and as a
catalyst for the creation of significant art projects. We seek to nurture emerging
and established artists and to provide opportunities for inspiration,
experimentation, and education. Our programs support the evolution of new ideas
in contemporary art and cultivate diverse audiences while providing a forum for
ongoing dialogue.
The International Artist-in-Residence program is supported by The Andy
Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the National Endowment for the
Arts.
445 North Main Avenue San Antonio TX 78205 t 210 212 4900 f 210 212 4990 www.artpace.org
© 2004 Artpace San Antonio