> > Jean Louis Faure A sculptor of stories and history, a retrospective June 20th... September 28 th 2009 Opening: Friday June 19 th 2009 at 6.00 pm Brouette sacrée à déroulement funèbre négatif, 1980, collection Frac Provence Alpes Côte-d Azur Gérard Bonnet
musée Denon 3 rue Boichot (entrée par la place de l Hôtel de Ville) 71100 Chalon-sur-Saône + 33 (0)3 85 94 74 41 + 33 (0)3 85 94 70 03 fax beauxarts.denon@chalonsursaone.fr Press Emmanuelle Vieillard communication.niepce@chalonsursaone.fr Visuals and press releases available on our web site www.museeniepce.com/dossiers_presse Open every day except Tuesdays and holidays, 9.30... 12.00 am and 2.00... 5.30 pm Access By the A6, exit 25 Chalon Nord or 26 Chalon Sud SNCF train station in Chalon Close to the TGV station Le Creusot-Montchanin (20 min. from Chalon by car) Lyon-Saint-Exupéry Airport (an hour from Chalon by car) Entrance Free entrance
Jean Louis Faure A sculptor of stories and history, a retrospective Press conference Open to the press, Friday, June 19 th 2009, at 2.00 pm, the artist will be present. A press trip from Paris can be organised on request. At first glance, we could detail a link between the work of Jean-Louis Faure and the world of Marcel Duchamp. They do share an aesthetic of appropriation and the use of objects for other uses than they were intended. But this comparison is going nowhere! The sculptures of Jean-Louis Faure are neither a question of art history nor contemporary art. They are alive with signs, historical references and refuse all direct connections to art history. They can be difficult to approach and present themselves as so many narrative puzzles, objects to be decoded. Jean-Louis Faure builds such talkative sculptures that they become inexplicable, impossible to describe in a brochure or a leaflet. His work is not well known as its atypical nature makes it difficult to reproduce and distribute. His work has thus found it hard to find its place in museums. The relationship with art history is the multiplication, distribution and commentary on work since the time of Vivant Denon and Nicéphore Niépce. By organising a complete retrospective of the work of Jean-Louis Faure in the town of Denon and Niépce, we go against the grain by introducing an instrument by which to measure this relationship with art history. Jean-Louis Faure s sculptures are mental images that take shape. Through them, the artist transcribes the concepts and precepts of art history and certain philosophical principles. Jean-Louis Faure was witness to the century and in his work has built a critique of the modern world. His sculptures are linked to this world. From the small story to the big history, from pathetic anecdotes to the cock-ups and crimes of the century, each work is a constant reminder. All themes are dealt with through the prism of tragic farce, infused with a dark humour: the first and second world wars, communism, and colonialism. His work overflows with historical signs and references. Their enigmatic shapes are like visual puns, their mysterious titles make them difficult to grasp. In the end the work of Jean-Louis Faure can be accessed through reading. The narratives that accompany each of the artist s pieces constitute their instruction manual, their subtitles. All of his objects proclaim the primacy of the literary, of the idea over the form. Unlike the sculptor who shapes a shapeless material, or the noble practice of sculpting stone, his work is created more like a collage or a photomontage....
... Diverse objects and materials are put together, taken apart, put back together, shifted on ball-bearings; Jean-Louis Faure sculpts his work with the hand of a craftsman. A real tension is established between the narrative and the detachment with which Jean-Louis Faure comes back to the craftsman s handiwork. The answer may be anarchic of course, therein lies the reason modernity has rejected it: over-investment in craftsmanship is a Proudhonian proposition in an artistic context where installations, conceptual art and the rough industrial object predominate. «Can a still, cut block of stone reflect the good and the bad in history? Can and must sculpture salute, insult, honour, get annoyed, mock anything other than itself? Retain a link with the world as it is and a written account? The best frequented contemporary art answers no. Jean-Louis Faure says yes, with a smile. A sardonic, stubborn yes, for all to hear. This eccentric is subversive. By giving the hazards of the race colours and shapes, near and far, with an implacable verve, he traps the era and introduces a fourth dimension, the forgotten one, time. And straight away expression is reconciled with imprint, the plastic with the chronicle.»» Régis Debray [cf. references below] The exhibition entitled «Jean-Louis Faure, Sculpteur d Histoire[s], une rétrospective» is accompanied by the publication of «Sculptures» published by De Fallois with texts from Régis Debray, Michel Enrici, Charles-Henri Favrod and François Cheval. It will also be the occasion to announce a donation by the artist to the town of Chalon for its museums.