Marcel Duchamp, Joseph Beuys, Takashi Murakami
| Place: | Galerie Perrotin, 76 Rue de Turrene, 75003, Paris |
| Start date: | Friday 24, June 2011 |
| End date: | Saturday 30, July 2011 |
| Times: | Tues - Sat 11am - 7pm |
| Price: |
Galerie Perrotin hosts Marcel Duchamp, Joseph Beuys, Takashi Murakami ‘A
History of Editions’ which opens June 24 and runs through to July 30,
2011.The exhibition brings together multiples by Marcel Duchamp, Joseph
Beuys and Takashi Murakami who devoted a large part of their artistic
creation to the production of editions (as opposed to unique works).
Other 20th century artists devoted themselves to this practice like Andy
Warhol of course, but also Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg, Claes
Oldenburg, etc. in the line of the Fluxus movement, which advocated an
art of action that was democratic and anchored in life but also Dali,
Bernard Buffet, Keith Haring, Victor Vasarely and others, which would
make an ideal exhibition around this theme.
The avant-garde of the end of the 19th century and beginning of 20th
(the Nabis, Matisse, Miro, Munch…) also seized hold of the most varied
techniques including prints, which made it possible to circulate new art
that was not being seen in official salons, to a more open public.
Engraving has held a special place since its invention, accompanying the
development of printing and the circulation of ideas through book
illustration. It allowed the eclosion of darker or more libertine series
of iconography that criticized power and the established order (Los
Caprichos of Goya, the erotic engravings of Giulio Romano, etc.).
Founded in 1797, the Chalcography of the Louvre has therefore a
collection of more than 13,000 engraving plates and regularly invites
contemporary artists to make new ones for unlimited printing.
Marcel Duchamp naturally resorted to multiples because of his
preoccupation with authorship and so redefined the notion of uniqueness.
He was the first to look upon print series as unique works. He thus
produced 275 portable retrospective museums of his work he called «Box
in a Valise» that were ubiquitous being present in the most celebrated
collections around the world («Everything important I have done can be
held in a small valise.» M.D.). Beyond that, he allowed his imagination
to run free on all kinds of media like posters, invitations, telegrams,
enamelled plates, etc.The private collection, here unveiled, gathers 80
relevant works.
Joseph Beuys extended this approach by adding social and
political speculations through the continuous production of 567
multiples from 1965 to 1986, to which numerous post cards were added.
The Reinhard Schlegel Collection, which Galerie Perrotin reveals a
selection of 120 artworks, displays an original collection of this
«Enlarged Art» that includes manifestos, political concepts and forms of
language. They thus escaped the art market at the time. «Each edition
has the character of a kernel of condensation for me on which a
multitude of things can settle. […] I am interested by the transmission
of physical vehicles in the form of editions, because I am passionate
about spreading ideas. The objects are only in relation to my
intelligible ideas.» J.B.
A doctor in Nihonga painting from the University of Arts in Tokyo, Takashi Murakami
developed a unique protean style of the most modern techniques
associated with the precision and virtuosity of traditional Japanese art
and that of the Ukiyo-e engraving (pictures of the floating world) in
particular. Inspired by Manga and Kawai (cuteness) culture, his
irresistible world is peopled by monstrous and charming characters,
facetious descendents of past myths. His theory of the Superflat
aesthetic, which he introduced in 2001, attempts to blur the frontiers
between popular art and grand art. The absence of perspective, the
two-dimensionality of ancient art, filters in to every support –
painting, sculpture, prints/silk-screens, wallpaper, animation films and
accessories. He has even created his figures on T-shirts (Hiropon) or
giant balloons (Mr.Dob) before having them appear in his paintings,
sculptures and films; quite the reverse of the Hollywood system that
sells spinoff products after a blockbuster has come out. More than 160
prints, from 2001 to 2011, now are visible.
The art market has tended to underestimate these productions without
taking the artists’ generosity into consideration in offering their art
to the greatest number of people. Indeed, the profitability of a print
is uncertain. Murakami’s prints for example have high production costs
tied to the number of colours used, though the artist wants their
selling price to remain reasonable. Duchamp, Beuys and Murakami
succeeded in convincing collectors that editions were an integral part
of their artistic production with the underlying idea of «art for all».
Marcel Duchamp
