Julio LE PARC Modern Painters

Transcription

1 PRESSBOOK Julio LE PARC Modern Painters October /1

2 OCTOBER 2017 CONTENTS 82 BELOW: Malick Sidibé I m crazy about records, Gelatin silver print, 50.5 x 40.5 cm FROM LEFT: PRIVATE COLLECTION. GERHARD RICHTER 2017; COLLECTION FONDATION CARTIER POUR L ART CONTEMPORAIN, PARIS MALICK SIDIBÉ; LAUREN GREENFIELD 48ABOVE: Gerhard Richter Ella (903-1), Oil on canvas, 40 X 31 cm Spotlight The Eye of Bamako Fondation Cartier, which first showcased Malick Sidibé s work outside Africa, honors his memory again by Sarah Moroz The Painter-Lensman The retrospective at Grand Palais shows why Irving Penn s photos were not just fashion shoots by Cody Delistraty Datebook 130 Chicago artists Fondazione Prada takes a look at the city s postwar scene Dada Africa A show in Paris explores how Africa impacted Dadaists 92 ABOVE: Lauren Greenfield Jackie and friends with Versace handbags at a private opening at the Versace store, Beverly Hills, California, 2007 Roy Lichtenstein Tate Liverpool surveys the artist s response to fast-changing times Datebook The Year of Wonders What was so special about the year 1932 in Pablo Picasso s life? David LaChapelle Spirituality & belonging are the highlights of his new series of pictures Julio Le Parc Even at 89, he hasn t lost any of his dynamism, as his recent output shows Modern Painters, ISSN , is published monthly with combined Winter (December/ January/February), March/April, and June/July issues by LTB Media (U.K.) Ltd., an affiliate of BlouinArtinfo Corp, 80 Broad Street, Suite 606/607, New York, NY Vol. XXIX, No. 1. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER, Send address changes to: Fulco, Inc., Modern Painters, PO Box 3000, Denville, NJ BLOUINARTINFO.COM OCTOBER 2017 MODERN PAINTERS 9

3 PARIS Julio Le Parc at Perrotin BOTH IMAGES JULIO LE PARC / ADAGP, PARIS 2017 PHOTO CLAIRE DORN / COURTESY PERROTIN JULIO LE PARC S work has experienced a global revival of late: exhibitions at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris in 2013, the Serpentine Sackler Gallery in London in 2014, and a major retrospective at the Perez Art Museum in Miami last year. His latest exhibition at Perrotin Paris (following an exhibition in the New York space in 2016) features some 40 paintings, sculptures and installations produced between the 70s and 90s, as well as new installations, mobiles and recent paintings. His dynamism hasn t faded a bit: his 2016 Alchimie 349, a bright whirling dervish in acrylic paints, is as energetic as a spiraling 1976 canvas, Modulation 204. At 89 years old, the Argentine-born artist has a storied past with the French art scene, ever since he arrived in the country on a grant in He has worked and resided here since, headquartered in an atelier in the southwestern Parisian suburb of Cachan, a veritable funhouse of whirring mechanized installations that transform light into undulating shadows or bright fantasias (including a venture into virtual reality experiences, developed with the help of his sons). Since 1959, Le Parc has self-imposed a 14-scale selection of colors (plus white, gray and black neutrals), a systematic palette he endlessly recalibrates. The vibrant hues are deployed into electrifying geometric forms that rouse one s sense of perception, toying with shifts in luminosity and sleights of hands to produce optical illusions. His work has been qualified as Kinetic Art, although Le Parc has vocally resisted this term. Ceaselessly motivated by experimentation, he has christened himself a tinkerer, elaborating in an interview with Purple magazine in March 2017: If you have a little imagination, a little curiosity, a little stubbornness, you ll stumble upon things. This artist-asexplorer approach not only keeps him creatively satisfied, but enables more forthright connections with the viewer: Play is, perhaps, a good way station toward opening people up to other things. Le Parc has infused a political FROM LEFT: Relief with reflective plates, Inox, 80 X 80 X 8 cm Modulation 204, Acrylic on canvas 200 x 200 cm BLOUINARTINFO.COM OCTOBER 2017 MODERN PAINTERS 165

4 166 MODERN PAINTERS OCTOBER 2017 BLOUINARTINFO.COM J U L I O L E PA R C / A DAG P, PA R I S C O U R T E S Y P E R R OT I N Alchimie 330, Acrylic on canvas 100 x 100 cm

5 JULIO LE PARC / ADAGP, PARIS 2017 PHOTO CLAIRE DORN / COURTESY PERROTIN dimension to his work: He has criticized dictatorships in Latin America through assorted anti-fascist projects, and was temporarily exiled from France because of his local art activism during the country s political upheaval around But playfulness has been paramount, even when delivering an activist message. He was a founding member of GRAV (Groupe de Recherche d Art Visuel, an acronym that winks at grave, the French word for serious ), the disruptive 1960s collective that sought to popularize art discourse and provide a forum for ideological exchange between a handful of artists. The group s most impactful gesture was the Journée dans la Rue (Day in the Street) in 1966, when members scattered objects and questionnaires in public spaces throughout Paris. We wondered how we could change or Série 33D , 1970/ Acrylic on canvas 200 x 200 cm invert the status quo, and create a more direct relationship with people, without filtering things through aesthetic analyses, market value, and production, the artist told Purple. Today his work still probes the relationship between art and audience participation. He wants joy to be the essential takeaway, he said in an interview: If people feel a change in their spirit, some optimism, that s already something. SARAH MOROZ BLOUINARTINFO.COM OCTOBER 2017 MODERN PAINTERS 167