Pttrn/Ptnt, a solo exhibition by Pierre Clément at Les Abattoirs, FRAC Midi-Pyrénées in Toulouse, ran from November 25 2015, until April 3, 2016. The sculptural configurations, minimal and industrial, are frameworks the artist has developed to explore the aesthetic logic of signs and systems. Clément’s practice is invested in a wider variety of political and cultural forms that have emerged as a result of our expanding technology, and explores the chaos in the genetic landscape coding and information.
Using found and readymade objects, the installation consists of fragile glass panels held together by steel framing. Prints placed onto the transparent surfaces create an abstract patterning. Using plexiglass, stainless steel, padlocks, clay, and acrylic paint, the structures are made to look DIY, and attempt to articulate a kind of intangible and invisible network of language, and its effect on human communication.
Pierre Clement, Pttrn/ptnt (2015). Installation view. Photo by Vinciane Verguethen. Courtesy Les Abattoirs, FRAC Midi-Pyrénées, Toulouse + XPO, Paris.
The show has no press release, but includes a text by Andrew Birk (2016) :
REPETITION.
BURROWING TWRDS/THRU
WAVERING FIBROUS
HUMANITY.
INALIENABLE .
ALIENABLE.
FLUORESCENT
TRANSPORTED VESSELS,
BRAINDEAD,
CLINGING TO FIXED
ALUMINUM PIPING,
ENGINE SPUTTER MOUTHS,
SKULLDRILLED,
RUPT.
PASSIVE POTENTIALITY.
EMOTELESS.
SANDBLASTED.
BRUSHED.
REFLECTIVE.
BASAL.
INFINITE.
MASTERY IS TO BECOME
HYDRAULIC;
SWIFTLY TERMINABLE
HUMAN INDECISION.
A ROCK IS A PERFECT
MACHINE.
A STRAIGHT LINE IS A
PERFECT MACHINE.
A DOG DIES ALONE.
A NOTE LIVES FOREVER
IN PERPETUITY.**
Exhibition photos, top right.
