The French Art Studio at Slick 08
October 2008
CentQuatre, 75019 Paris, France
 | The French Art Studio presents Alban & Francois Rosso |
  | With this joint exhibition, Alban and Francois Rosso shared a reflexion about the mutation of our civilisation from a world of engineering and construction into a dematerialised world dominated by virtual productions. These two French artists have common influences. They have grown up in the 70s within a society of accelerating scientific progress, with digital technologies becoming the central focus of human activities and traditional industrial processes migrating away to remote locations. Virtual communities on the internet have become the new metropolis of an integrated world. Digital images have replaced chemical photography, dematerialising human representations and allowing for all sorts of mass manipulations. These artists are fascinated by the idea of modernity and by the disappearance of its material productions. Industrial machineries, spaceships, skyscrapers, heavy technical equipments are key symbols in their art. Inspired by science fiction imageries, video games and electronic music, they have adopted a futuristic language to question our society about its developments and their consequences on individuals. Francois Rosso gives us his vision of a technological world before the digital revolution. His drawings represent valves and tubes that were the key constituencies of early computers. His photo-montages laid out like film cuts are remains of the chemical photography era. With some nostalgia and humour, the artist depicts a time when human beings were in symbiosis with their creations. His artworks are full of obscure doodling, handwriting and intriguing signs and numbers, showing the omnipresence of the creator and his intimate relationship with his production. The pre-digital architect was a constructor as well as a designer. In the digital world, electronic components can’t even be seen by the eyes of their creator. These artworks are remains of a time when creation was still tangible. Alban also showcases material objects from the pre-digital world: aircraft wrecks, industrial machineries, metal pieces of boats... What is striking at first glance is the impression of dense history that these old objects convey. Scares, impacts, rust, wear of time, national icons are an allegory for the life of the human beings who lived with these machines. Their resonance with our memories is strong and fascinating. Though, these objects are faked. They actually are constructions made out of wood, plaster and resins and represent imaginary machines. They are illusions created by the artist to make us feel the transition into virtuality. In this new world, we will still experience real emotions, and we will be more vulnerable to manipulation. |
About Slick
Slick, as the Off of the Fiac, participates in Paris’ contemporary art week in order to reveal all of the vitality of the Parisian art scene. The fair will be taking up residence in a new and soon not-to-be-missed center for artistic creation and production, the CENTQUATRE . A site of transit and liveliness, its 39,000 m2 will welcome artists’ studios, concerts, shows, performances and Slick 08, all as of October 2008. On the 2,500 m2 reserved for the fair, 58 galleries will be exhibiting and will make of this event all that is most edgy and surprising in terms of contemporary creation by mixing together performances, installations, paintings, sculptures, photography and video..
>Click here for more info about Slick