Overduin and Co

Marc Camille Chaimowicz

26 Apr - 30 May 2009

© Marc Camille Chaimowicz
MARC CAMILLE CHAIMOWICZ

“We Chose Our Words With Care, That Neon-Moonlit Evening;
It Was As If We Were, Party To A Wonderful Alchemy”

1975-2008

April 26th-May 30th, 2009
Opening Sunday, April 26th, 6-8

Overduin and Kite is pleased to present the first U.S. solo exhibition by Marc Camille Chaimowicz. For this exhibition, Chaimowicz will present an installation titled, "We Chose Our Words With Care, That Neon-Moonlit Evening; It Was As If We Were, Party To A Wonderful Alchemy."
In this piece, an assemblage of found and constructed objects, such as a stepped pyramid, a fallen arch, a fox fur, and vases of flowers are lit by colored theater lamps and viewed though triangular openings cut from the folds of a shimmering curtain. The sound of a trickling fountain is heard from behind the drapery. This piece was originally shown in 1975 at AIR Gallery in London and it was recreated last year for a major exhibition of Chaimowicz's work titled, "...In the Cherished Company of Others..." at de Appel in Amsterdam.
Also included in the exhibition is a suite of exquisitely crafted screen prints titled after Chaimowicz's artist book, "The World of Interiors." For this book, Chaimowicz has inhabited the space of an interior design magazine, layering images of his own work and source materials onto the existing pages, along with his writing and texts on his work. The book also features contributions by other invited artists.
Chaimowicz's work incorporates a richly faceted lexicon of objects and formal devices drawn from the rituals of daily life. His installation "Celebration? Realife" from 1972 and performances such as, "Partial Eclipse..." from 1980 are seminal works from this period.
Chaimowicz's oeuvre also encompasses sculpture, painting, drawing, photography, furniture, fabric and wallpaper design, as well as writing.
Dan Fox writes of Chaimowicz, "His practice swings pendulum-like between polarities of domesticity and nomadism -- a sense of place as both psychological anchoring point, and the embodiment of desire and imagination... There is a distinctly literary quality evident in the work too -- a delicately precise use of words; objects and installations in which narrative and pace are foregrounded as formal qualities in themselves. An illicit Romanticism is teased out with a New Romantic theatricality that is highly adept at weaving together references and connotations; always attentive to the polysemous power of suggestion."
"That Neon-Moonlit Evening..." Marc Camille Chaimowicz. published by the Kunstverein fur die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Dusseldorf. 2005. p. 28.
Chaimowicz was born in post-war Paris and now lives and works in London and Dijon. He studied at The Slade School of Fine Art, the Camberwell School of Art, and the Ealing School of Art in London.
Recent solo exhibitions have been organized by de Appel in Amsterdam, the Migros Museum in Zurich, and the Kunstverein fur de Rhienlande und Westfalen in Dusseldorf. Chaimowicz's work was also included in the 5th Berlin Biennale last year, as well as the Tate Triennial in 2006.
Upcoming solo exhibitions include "Jean Cocteau" at Cabinet in London and an exhibition scheduled to open this fall at the Secession in Vienna.
An anthology of writings by the artist edited by Alexis Vaillant is forthcoming from Sternberg Press in Berlin and Les Presses du Réel in Dijon. Monographs on Chaimowicz's work include "Marc Camille Chaimowicz: Celebration? Realife" published by Afterall Books; "Marc Camille Chaimowicz" published by the Kunstverein fur die Rheinlande und Westfalen in Dusseldorf; and "Past Imperfect; Marc Camille Chaimowicz" published by Bluecoat, Orchard Street, and John Hansard Galleries.
Artist books include "Café du Rêve" published by Editions du Regard, Galerie de France, and Thames and Hudson, as well as "The World of Interiors" published by the Migros Museum in Zurich.
 

Tags: Marc Camille Chaimowicz, Jean Cocteau