Exhibition Review: Bertrand Lavier, Walt Disney Series, 15 January—20 February 2016 at Galerie Xavier Hufkens, Brussels
Images to follow are courtesy of the gallery.
Galerie Xavier Hufkens in Brussels has an exemplary program with so many artists whom we admire: Sterling Ruby, Ken Price, Antony Gormley, Louise Bourgeois, Robert Mapplethorpe, and the list goes on.
Their recent exhibition by Bertrand Lavier is a highly elegant presentation of one of the artist’s most iconic bodies of work: Walt Disney Productions, a project that harkens back to 1984. Lavier is utilizing as source material a Disney comic strip from 1977 in which Mickey and Minnie Mouse visit a modern art gallery. He carefully studies their encounter with “mimics” of genuine modern and contemporary art sculptures and paintings, as they sprang from the cartoonist’s imagination but, in their own humorous way, were undoubtedly based upon real works of art. These life-sized recreations are highly technical and espouse an interesting dialogue about the accessibility of art and culture, and art in the three-dimensional experience.
Original source material for the artwork, Journal de Mickey, Issue 1279, January 1977.
Images courtesy of this blog.
Lavier refers to his distinct bodies of work as “chantiers”, meaning ‘building sites”, such that he conceives each project as a work in progress that evolves over time that evokes new meanings through new installation. Xavier Hufkens included another famous chantier in this exhibition, three dimensional objects that have been covered in a thick layer of paint, one that is identical in color to whatever lies beneath. The 19th century terminology sur le motif is taken literally as en plein air is brought indoors. Lavier is also questioning the value of art vs. the value of object as one and the same.
And, make sure to visit Xavier Hufkens’ mind-bending new exhibition by David Altmejd, now through April 9. His treatment of bronze evokes the surreal in both presentation of image and how the material is utilized (is it plaster?, or clay?), and his sculptures of mirror and steel are stunning, especially in installation.