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gagosiangallery · 4 years

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Bustes de Femmes at Gagosian Paris

October 3, 2020

BUSTES DE FEMMES Paris 10th Anniversary Exhibition Opening reception: Saturday, October 10, 3–7pm October 10–December 19, 2020 __________ Gagosian is pleased to present Bustes de Femmes, a group exhibition focused on female portraiture to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the gallery’s central Paris location. Spanning a breadth of stylistic and conceptual approaches, the paintings, sculptures, and photographs on view demonstrate how the female figure has been reimagined and reconfigured by modern and contemporary artists of diverse backgrounds and traditions. Expanding upon the theme and format of the gallery’s first booth at FIAC, in 2010, Bustes de Femmes will be presented in environments both real and virtual designed by India Mahdavi, an architect known for her vibrant interiors that combine free forms with unexpected bursts of color. For this exhibition, Mahdavi will juxtapose each work on view with a fresh and joyful hue from her 2019 color collection Flowers. John Currin’s erotic and enigmatic depictions of women populate scenes suffused with tongue-in-cheek irony, rendered in luminous brushstrokes reminiscent of the old masters. Jeff Koons’s Gazing Ball (Rembrandt Lucretia) (2015) celebrates the appreciation of the achievements of others throughout human history. A hand-blown mirrored glass ball placed in front of a hand-painted re-creation of the seventeenth-century portrait transports present-day viewers into an illusory world inhabited by Rembrandt, his predecessors, and the titular ancient Roman heroine. For the past four decades, Cindy Sherman has used herself as her exclusive model—inventing an endless stream of visual identities while acting as stylist, set designer, and producer—to create photographic tableaux that address the conceit of self-representation and probe societal perceptions of women throughout history. In Untitled #552 (2010–12), Sherman, dressed in a bobbed wig and black dress with white gloves, scowls and poses with arms stiff at her sides. Harshly lit against a nocturnal treescape, her body dwarfs the scene behind her, inverting and feminizing the Romantic trope of nature overpowering the human.

Bringing together elements of religious iconography, advertising, and political propaganda from southern Africa and the United States, Meleko Mokgosi seeks to redress some of the ways in which Black subjects have become unattributed objects of empire and institution. In Mokgosi’s installation Objects of Desire 3 (2016–20), small paintings of women modeling for Afrocentric beauty advertisements are juxtaposed with text panels discussing the classification of so-called “primitive” art—a reference to the Museum of Modern Art’s controversial 1984–85 exhibition “Primitivism” in Twentieth Century Art: Affinity of the Tribal and the Modern, in which historical African artworks were problematically framed as anonymous sources for early European modernism. To make these works available to a wider international audience during this time of limited accessibility, Bustes de Femmes will include an online presentation that continues and extends the exhibition, and Mahdavi’s scenography as well. In a group of four paintings from Adriana Varejão’s 2015 series Kindred Spirits, the artist superimposes modernist paintings over delicate monochrome renderings of her own face—a blending of personal and artistic identities from past and present. Also viewable online is Henry Moore’s bronze sculpture Reclining Figure: Umbilicus (1984). Throughout his career, the reclining female figure formed a central font of inspiration for Moore, whose biomorphic abstractions imbue the human body with both a corporeal solidity and a weightless dynamism. On the occasion of this exhibition, Gagosian Quarterly will present a filmed conversation between Jeff Koons and art historian Diana Widmaier-Picasso. Bustes de Femmes will include works by Richard Avedon, Balthus, Georg Baselitz, Huma Bhabha, Cecily Brown, Glenn Brown, John Currin, Roe Ethridge, Urs Fischer, Alberto Giacometti, Romuald Hazoumè, Jia Aili, Jeff Koons, Roy Lichtenstein, Man Ray, Adam McEwen, Joan Miro, Meleko Mokgosi, Henry Moore, Francis Picabia, Pablo Picasso, Auguste Rodin, Jenny Saville, Cindy Sherman, Spencer Sweeney, Cy Twombly, Adriana Varejão, and Tom Wesselmann, among others. _____ Glenn Brown, Christina of Denmark, 2008, oil on panel, 65 × 46 7/8 inches (165 × 119 cm) © Glenn Brown. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates, Ltd.

#Bustes de Femmes #Gagosian #Glenn Brown

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contemporaryafricanartunframed · 6 years

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An Introduction to Jean Pigozzi

“When I started, everyone thought that I was an idiot. But now many museums - like Pompidou, Tate, Metropolitan in New York, Los Angeles County Museum - they all want to do shows from my collection,” explains French-born Italian collector Jean Pigozzi in 2016, reacting to the rise in popularity and interest in Contemporary African art. At sixty-four years old, Pigozzi has amassed over 10,000 works of Contemporary African art with a particular focus on artists who live and work in sub-Saharan Africa. Pigozzi’s collection is different from other collections of Contemporary African art (such as the Zeitz collection) which include works by artists who may not be currently living and working in Africa and which feature artists from all different parts of the continent. What is not different, however, is Pigozzi’s desire to help African artists to share their stories with the world. Although his collection does not have a permanent museum or location where it can be shown altogether, the works are frequently on loan to prestigious museums internationally and featured in exhibitions worldwide.

Pigozzi was an artist before he ever became an art collector; he discovered photography at a young age as a way to capture the world around him and express himself without extensive writing, which he struggled with due to dyslexia. Growing up in what he calls a “typical European bourgeois” household, the young aficionado regularly attended art museums with his mother, and his parents even had a modest collection of Impressionist works. It was not until the 1970s, when he attended Harvard University in the United States, however, that Pigozzi exposed himself to art that was more avant-garde. Pigozzi recalls spending weekends in New York visiting MoMA, the Whitney, and galleries downtown. Pigozzi found the art around him fascinating: “It was all so exciting,” he said. “This was the time of Conceptual Art and Minimalism; Carl Andre and Sol LeWitt.” His first purchase was a small Sol LeWitt drawing. At age twenty one, Pigozzi inherited his father’s fortune and became wealthy enough to enjoy a life of leisure dedicated to following his passions - including his burgeoning interest in art - wherever they led him.

In 1989, Pigozzi discovered Contemporary African art when he attended the well-known, yet controversial, exhibition Magiciens de la terre at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. The exhibition, which is seen as one of the major turning points for the art world’s globalization, featured works by more than 100 artists from 50 countries, half of which were so-called “non-Western.” Upon seeing the show, Pigozzi was struck by the creativity of the African artists whose works were featured. Pigozzi was not able to purchase the works in the show, which included those by now relatively more well-known Contemporary African artists Bodys Isek Kingelez and Chéri Samba, because they were owned by a French television station. However, Pigozzi was introduced to André Magnin, who helped curate the show, and he became Pigozzi’s advisor as he began to collect Contemporary African art. Most of the works that the collector has acquired were purchased directly from the artists themselves, and many of them were discovered by Magnin through his journeys into Africa scouting for artistic talent.

While Pigozzi himself has never been to Africa, he remains committed to meeting and talking with the artists whose work he collects, finding collectors who do not do so to be more vulnerable to the tall tales sometimes told by art world professionals when trying to make a sale. Among the 71 artists listed on Pigozzi’s collection website, only some of them have been featured in gallery or museum shows - lending itself well to the interpretation that Pigozzi enjoys discovering new artists. Pigozzi has been credited for essentially launching the careers of artists in his collection who do have more art world visibility. For instance, journalist Tess Thackara argues: “Without Pigozzi’s patronage, it’s easy to imagine that [Kingelez] would never have made it onto the MoMA’s walls; the high-profile collector has undeniably brought visibility to Kingelez’s work and played a crucial role in its preservation.”

When he talks about his motives for collecting the art that he does, Pigozzi never talks about financial viability, stability or even potential to produce any sort of profit. In fact, Pigozzi believes that anyone viewing his collection through a financial lens would see it as a “mistake,” with his most valuable paintings being worth $100,000 at maximum, according to the collector - a small amount of money compared to the millions of dollars that Warhol’s and Basquiat’s achieve at auction. But, Pigozzi does not view his works through a financial lens, explaining that while his choice of category may not make sense of a collector interested in making a long-term profit off his works, it makes sense for Pigozzi because he feels he occupies an interesting and unique niche within the art world.

Artworks from The Contemporary African Art Collection (CAAC), which is what Pigozzi calls his collection, have been featured in what one might argue to be every important exhibition of Contemporary African Art in major art institutions in 2018, including Romuald Hazoumè at Gagosian, Park & 75, New York; Platform: Barthélémy Toguo: The Beauty of Our Voice at the Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, New York; and Bodys Isek Kingelez: City of Dreams at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. All of those exhibitions have gotten major press coverage, including mentions or full articles in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, TIME, and Forbes.

In terms of his plans for the future, Pigozzi has expressed a desire to contain his collection within one place and make it available to the public without having to be dispersed among various museums. “It would be sad if 30 years of work disappeared, and the 10,000-strong collection was dispersed,” Pigozzi laments. Yet, Pigozzi realizes that he may not have the resources to put all of his art in one place right now - at least not in a place that he himself funds. “If I [were] Bill Gates,” he says, “I would build a museum. But I’m not Bill Gates. So, I’m open to suggestions,” Pigozzi discloses in an interview with an implied sense of humor. In the meantime, viewing sublime works from Pigozzi’s collection, like the imaginative Bodys Isek Kingelez’s utopian city sculptures at MoMA, is not a bad option for those of us interested in unveiling the stories that Pigozzi readily makes available to the art-viewing public.

Jean Pigozzi and Chéri Samba, Paris, 2002. Source: Les Initiés: un choix d’oeuvres (1989-2009) dans la collection d’art contemporain africain de Jean Pigozzi, Fondation Louis Vuitton, 2017.

Photo at top: Jean Pigozzi. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Jy-ggtttZQ.

Bibliography:

Artforum. “Jean Pigozzi to Build Foundation for Contemporary African Art.” April 26, 2017. Accessed November 4, 2018. https://www.artforum.com/news/jean-pigozzi-to-build-foundation-for-contemporary-african-art-68078.

Baumgardner, Julie. “Inside the World’s Largest Collection of Contemporary African Art.” Artsy. October 12, 2015. Accessed November 4, 2018. https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-inside-the-world-of-jean-pigozzi-the-tech.

Buffenstein, Alyssa. “Investor and Celeb Photographer Jean Pigozzi Is Searching for a Home for His African Art Collection.” artnet News. April 27, 2017. Accessed November 4, 2018. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/jean-pigozzi-foundation-contemporary-african-art-938897.

Caacart.com. “Artists.” Accessed November 4, 2018. http://caacart.com/caacart-artists.php. Caacart.com. “Exhibitions.” Accessed November 4, 2018. http://caacart.com/caacart-exhibitions.php.

Caacart.com. “Home.” Accessed November 4, 2018. http://caacart.com/.

Christie’s. “The Insider’s guide to Contemporary African art.” February 15, 2018. https://www.christies.com/features/The-insider-guide-to-Contemporary-African-art-8887-1.aspx.

Delson, Susan. “In the Hamptons, This Artist Builds the Boat And Serves the Coffee.” The Wall Street Journal. July 26, 2018. Accessed November 4, 2018. https://www.wsj.com/articles/in-the-hamptons-this-artist-builds-the-boat-and-serves-the-coffee-1532617982.

Edwards, Natasha. “Jean Pigozzi’s Massive Collection of African Art.” Surface. November 30, 2015. Accessed November 4, 2018. https://www.surfacemag.com/articles/20151130jean-pigozzis-massive-collection-of-african-art/.

Friedel, Julia. “Magiciens de la Terre.” Contemporary And. August 12, 2016. Accessed November 4, 2018. https://www.contemporaryand.com/magazines/magiciens-de-la-terre/.

Harris, Gareth. “Venture capitalist Jean Pigozzi plans foundation to house contemporary African art collection.” The Art Newspaper. April 26, 2017. Accessed November 4, 2018. https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/venture-capitalist-jean-pigozzi-plans-foundation-to-house-huge-contemporary-african-art-collection

Meistere, Una. “Jean Pigozzi.” Independent Collectors. July 19, 2016. Accessed November 4, 2018. https://independent-collectors.com/collectors/jean-pigozzi-arterritory/.

Pigozzi, Jean. “Jean Pigozzi: The Collecting Life.” Caacart.com. June 2005. Accessed November 4, 2018. http://caacart.com/about_jp_en.php.

Press, Clayton. “Romauld Hazoumé, Gagosian, Park & 75, New York.” Forbes. September 23, 2018. Accessed November 4, 2018. https://www.forbes.com/sites/claytonpress/2018/09/23/romuald-hazoume-gagosian-park-75th-new-york/#5227dbdf3b58.

Schwendener, Martha, Will Heinrich, and Jillian Steinhauer. “What to See in New York Art Galleries This Week.” The New York Times. September 13, 2018. Accessed November 4, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/13/arts/design/what-to-see-in-new-york-art-galleries-this-week.html.

Shapiro, Eben. “At MoMA, a Genius Finally Gets His Due.” Time. June 28, 2018. Accessed November 4, 2018. http://time.com/5324720/body-isek-kingelez-moma/.

Smith, Roberta. “Fantastical Cityscapes of Cardboard and Glue at MoMA.” The New York Times. May 31, 2018. Accessed November 4, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/31/arts/design/bodys-isek-kingelez-review-moma.html.

Thackara, Tess. “Bodys Isek Kingelez, Maker of Utopian Cities, Finally Gets the Retrospective He Deserves.” Artsy. May 24, 2018. Accessed November 4, 2018. https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-finally-notice-bodys-isek-kingelezs-utopian-vision.

#jean pigozzi #pigozzi #jeanpigozzi #contemporary african art #contemporary art #african art #african contemporary art #blog #art blog #art blogger #contemporary art blog #art collectors #art collector #collectors #art collector profile #art collecting #cheri samba

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