Gyan Panchal
18 Sep - 31 Oct 2009
"Material is Spent Light"
Max Wigram Gallery, 99 New Bond Street, London
Max Wigram Gallery is proud to announce the first solo show in the UK by French artist Gyan Panchal.
Panchal works are poetic explorations of materials and their states of transformation. Matter itself, understood as both content and form, is at the core of Panchal’s preoccupations. His practice explores materials looking for clues of their own history, a process of discovery and elaboration that questions the physical structure of matter as well as its potential transformation under human intervention.
The show at Max Wigram Gallery revolves around a research on materials that are used in architecture, construction materials as well as materials used to make architecture models. Tersomoi is composed by three panels of Foam Board, two of which have been heated by the artist in the intent to expose their structure and composition. The two external layers of coated paper melt under the heat, leaving the panels twisted, falling apart, almost dripping from the wall. Because of the material that has been used, the sculpture could also be understood as a model of itself, a potentially evolving pattern that could eventually cover the whole wall. This dynamism evokes the beginning of a process of formal and structural metamorphoses, a disclosure of time in matter, a historical element that Panchal researches in synthetic materials, which have no apparent relation to a past.
Klimn is a five centimeters thick panel of Styrofoam lining against a wall. The surface, originally covered in details and marks of its own making, which resemble marks on natural surfaces such as wood, is covered in graphite powder. Here, a purely mineral element is combined with the artificiality of Styrofoam, a dichotomy between the natural and the artificial recurrent in Panchal’s practice. Similarly, Trija is a broken piece of slate kept together by a strip of roof sealing tape. A stone commonly used for roof building, slate is a very pure mineral that resembles graphite for colour and texture. The combination of these elements, subverted from their original function, create an enigmatic new entity, an abstract object with an almost archaic quality that asks for reflection.
Finally, Ghelis, is a veil of polypropylene hanging from a wall, its lower half dyed with turmeric, a basic pigment used in India’s fabric dying industry. Again, a process of transformation has been abstracted from its original context and applied to an unexpected material. The work exists in the space of a question: what is the link between a synthetic fabric and a natural pigment? What can be constructed from their abstract relation? Panchal sees sculpture as an unresolved question, a reflection upon our relationship with the materials that compose today’s environment. His sculptures are fascinating objects, indeterminate and fragile attempts to materialize and define a possible answer.
Gyan Panchal (b. France 1973) lives and works in Paris. This show will be his first solo exhibition in the UK. This year he has had solo shows with Galerie Frank Elbaz (Paris) and Le Spot (Le Havre, France). In 2008 projects have included a solo show at Palais de Tokyo (Paris) and group shows at Bloomberg Space (London) and Via Nuova (Florence, Italy); he was also selected for the tenth Fondation d’Entreprise Ricard prize curated by Nicolas Bourriaud (Paris). In 2007 he had shows at Ellen de Bruijne Projects (Amsterdam) and Galerie Sies+Höke (Düsseldorf, Germany). Other group exhibitions have included ‘Les roses de Jéricho’ at Attitudes contemporary art space (Geneva); and ‘In the flat field I get bored’ at artist-run space Glassbox (Paris).
Max Wigram Gallery, 99 New Bond Street, London
Max Wigram Gallery is proud to announce the first solo show in the UK by French artist Gyan Panchal.
Panchal works are poetic explorations of materials and their states of transformation. Matter itself, understood as both content and form, is at the core of Panchal’s preoccupations. His practice explores materials looking for clues of their own history, a process of discovery and elaboration that questions the physical structure of matter as well as its potential transformation under human intervention.
The show at Max Wigram Gallery revolves around a research on materials that are used in architecture, construction materials as well as materials used to make architecture models. Tersomoi is composed by three panels of Foam Board, two of which have been heated by the artist in the intent to expose their structure and composition. The two external layers of coated paper melt under the heat, leaving the panels twisted, falling apart, almost dripping from the wall. Because of the material that has been used, the sculpture could also be understood as a model of itself, a potentially evolving pattern that could eventually cover the whole wall. This dynamism evokes the beginning of a process of formal and structural metamorphoses, a disclosure of time in matter, a historical element that Panchal researches in synthetic materials, which have no apparent relation to a past.
Klimn is a five centimeters thick panel of Styrofoam lining against a wall. The surface, originally covered in details and marks of its own making, which resemble marks on natural surfaces such as wood, is covered in graphite powder. Here, a purely mineral element is combined with the artificiality of Styrofoam, a dichotomy between the natural and the artificial recurrent in Panchal’s practice. Similarly, Trija is a broken piece of slate kept together by a strip of roof sealing tape. A stone commonly used for roof building, slate is a very pure mineral that resembles graphite for colour and texture. The combination of these elements, subverted from their original function, create an enigmatic new entity, an abstract object with an almost archaic quality that asks for reflection.
Finally, Ghelis, is a veil of polypropylene hanging from a wall, its lower half dyed with turmeric, a basic pigment used in India’s fabric dying industry. Again, a process of transformation has been abstracted from its original context and applied to an unexpected material. The work exists in the space of a question: what is the link between a synthetic fabric and a natural pigment? What can be constructed from their abstract relation? Panchal sees sculpture as an unresolved question, a reflection upon our relationship with the materials that compose today’s environment. His sculptures are fascinating objects, indeterminate and fragile attempts to materialize and define a possible answer.
Gyan Panchal (b. France 1973) lives and works in Paris. This show will be his first solo exhibition in the UK. This year he has had solo shows with Galerie Frank Elbaz (Paris) and Le Spot (Le Havre, France). In 2008 projects have included a solo show at Palais de Tokyo (Paris) and group shows at Bloomberg Space (London) and Via Nuova (Florence, Italy); he was also selected for the tenth Fondation d’Entreprise Ricard prize curated by Nicolas Bourriaud (Paris). In 2007 he had shows at Ellen de Bruijne Projects (Amsterdam) and Galerie Sies+Höke (Düsseldorf, Germany). Other group exhibitions have included ‘Les roses de Jéricho’ at Attitudes contemporary art space (Geneva); and ‘In the flat field I get bored’ at artist-run space Glassbox (Paris).