Pierre-Olivier Arnaud
02 - 30 Apr 2011
PIERRE-OLIVIER ARNAUD
D’ici là
2 – 30 April, 2011
By Then is the second solo exhibition by Pierre-Olivier Arnaud at art: concept. is the second solo exhibition by Pierre-Olivier Arnaud at art: concept. This linguistically ambiguous title was chosen after the images had This linguistically ambiguous title was chosen after the images had been selected and, it was through hindsight and feedback, that the artist decided what the project as a whole would be.
The prepositional phrase denoting time, “by then”, synthesized the idea of a continuous present, of a situation that is going on right now and which has a hypothetical future in the distance that can only be imagined. In order to express this temporal contradiction, this future that is essentially impossible to nail down and to embody, he contracts juxtaposing adverbs – “by” and “then” – the fi rst denotes space and the second time. This literally creates an abstract space that bridges time. The two words superimpose time and space upon each other.
This semantic house of mirrors, so important to the artist’s work, here masquerades as an introduction. Pierre-Olivier Arnaud harnesses language, which similar to his images, remains fragmented without a beginning or an end: it is reframed without a frame. The functional expression here gives rise to an ordinate. Potentially designating his endeavor, which consists of dissecting the whole and its parts in order to stimulate and enrich the senses, the expression echoes the transformation process that the artist scrupulously applies to the images.
For this project Cosmos, he crisscrossed all of Europe, f , he crisscrossed all of Europe, focusing on Eastern Europe, searching for hotels named ocusing on Eastern Europe, searching for hotels named Cosmos. Having captured on fi . Having captured on fi lm lm each hotel’s location and surroundings, he gives a fresh perspective on the architecture, natural environments, as well as the spaces and fragmental spaces that seem abandoned. Arnaud notes that his production «deconsecrates» the images, as evidenced by the fact that their aesthetic is reduced to the lowest denominator: deafened and desiccated, grey tones. Details are blown-up until they become blurs and abstracts grow into monochromes. Some of these ghostly fi gures are nonetheless brought to order by a black edge, like a mechanical and radical gesture caused by a printing error – an accelerated fade-out, rendered abrupt, which evokes the continuous space of Barnett Newman’s painting and iconic zips. Arnaud opposes the melancholy and romanticism of ex-bloc communist ruins with the radicalism borrowed from minimal art that has become the emblematic aesthetic of capitalism.
The nonstop questioning of the pictorial surface and the construction of the image persists throughout his work. The illusion of depth created by aligning images of different formats reveals a discreet relationship to architecture and metaphorically threatens the use (or lack) of a space dedicated to the representation of culture. At times, the content has been brought back from the brink in order to faintly show fi gurative art – a modernist sculpture down from its pedestal – and the artist has documented the successive marginalization, both temporal and spatial, in the heart of public space. By Then is amongst other things a poetic attempt to recollect the universal fate of images, to preserve their meaning and to question the very pertinence of the term “public space.”
Caroline Soyez-Petithomme, translation Ellen Le Blond-Schrader
D’ici là
2 – 30 April, 2011
By Then is the second solo exhibition by Pierre-Olivier Arnaud at art: concept. is the second solo exhibition by Pierre-Olivier Arnaud at art: concept. This linguistically ambiguous title was chosen after the images had This linguistically ambiguous title was chosen after the images had been selected and, it was through hindsight and feedback, that the artist decided what the project as a whole would be.
The prepositional phrase denoting time, “by then”, synthesized the idea of a continuous present, of a situation that is going on right now and which has a hypothetical future in the distance that can only be imagined. In order to express this temporal contradiction, this future that is essentially impossible to nail down and to embody, he contracts juxtaposing adverbs – “by” and “then” – the fi rst denotes space and the second time. This literally creates an abstract space that bridges time. The two words superimpose time and space upon each other.
This semantic house of mirrors, so important to the artist’s work, here masquerades as an introduction. Pierre-Olivier Arnaud harnesses language, which similar to his images, remains fragmented without a beginning or an end: it is reframed without a frame. The functional expression here gives rise to an ordinate. Potentially designating his endeavor, which consists of dissecting the whole and its parts in order to stimulate and enrich the senses, the expression echoes the transformation process that the artist scrupulously applies to the images.
For this project Cosmos, he crisscrossed all of Europe, f , he crisscrossed all of Europe, focusing on Eastern Europe, searching for hotels named ocusing on Eastern Europe, searching for hotels named Cosmos. Having captured on fi . Having captured on fi lm lm each hotel’s location and surroundings, he gives a fresh perspective on the architecture, natural environments, as well as the spaces and fragmental spaces that seem abandoned. Arnaud notes that his production «deconsecrates» the images, as evidenced by the fact that their aesthetic is reduced to the lowest denominator: deafened and desiccated, grey tones. Details are blown-up until they become blurs and abstracts grow into monochromes. Some of these ghostly fi gures are nonetheless brought to order by a black edge, like a mechanical and radical gesture caused by a printing error – an accelerated fade-out, rendered abrupt, which evokes the continuous space of Barnett Newman’s painting and iconic zips. Arnaud opposes the melancholy and romanticism of ex-bloc communist ruins with the radicalism borrowed from minimal art that has become the emblematic aesthetic of capitalism.
The nonstop questioning of the pictorial surface and the construction of the image persists throughout his work. The illusion of depth created by aligning images of different formats reveals a discreet relationship to architecture and metaphorically threatens the use (or lack) of a space dedicated to the representation of culture. At times, the content has been brought back from the brink in order to faintly show fi gurative art – a modernist sculpture down from its pedestal – and the artist has documented the successive marginalization, both temporal and spatial, in the heart of public space. By Then is amongst other things a poetic attempt to recollect the universal fate of images, to preserve their meaning and to question the very pertinence of the term “public space.”
Caroline Soyez-Petithomme, translation Ellen Le Blond-Schrader