Daniel Dewar et Grégory Gicquel @ Centre Pompidou – Paris

Oftenly discarded by most tourists and visitors Beaubourg´s always great Espace 315 is hosting once again last year´s Marcel Duchamp Prix: an expo by the winning artistic duo Daniel Dewar and Grégory Gicquel.

Daniel Dewar and Grégory Gicquel met in 1997 at the Fine Arts School in Rennes, and ever since then have been developing a joint approach based on personal experimentation (often pushed to the extreme) with traditional sculpture and craft materials, applied to various themes reflecting their interests of the moment. The artistic core of their work thus lies in the worlds of music, fashion, non-Western cultures, ornamentation processes and ideas of taste and beauty — with all the relativism such notions imply. They have made a name both within and outside France through monumental installations imbued with a touch of Pop, involving spectacular staging that often tests the limits of the institution concerned.

For Espace 315, the duo have produced several large pieces using some of their favourite techniques : tapestry, ceramics, direct carving and painting on silk. Entitled ” The Hall “, the installation is designed to reflect the architectural features of Espace 315, prompting an encounter between viewers’ bodies and these monumental works. Some are ornamented by motifs with a decidedly puzzle-like character, chosen for both their plastic and symbolic qualities.

Stéphanie Hussonnois-Bouhayati talked to the artists on this exhibition curated by Jean-Pierre Bordaz, a short interview worth reading… this way.