Mircea Cantor
14 Mar - 16 May 2009
MIRCEA CANTOR
"White sugar for black days"
In 2002, Romanian artist Mircea Cantorhad his first exhibition at Yvon LambertParis, entitled The Right Man at the RightPlace. Since then, the artist has gainedinternational recognition with solo andgroup exhibitions worldwide.
The gallery is proud to welcome Cantor’swork for the second time in Paris. Theshow follows a travelling exhibition of theartist’s work in Great Britain that hasreceived wide acclaim as one of the mostthrilling this year. The show began atModern Art Oxford, travelled to ArnolfiniBristol and concluded at Camden ArtsCentre in London.
For his Parisian show, Mircea Cantor has decided to present recent works as well as a new version ofan animation he originally produced three years ago:
Seven future gifts is a large-scale sculpture composed of seven concrete ribbons that delineateimaginary gift boxes of different sizes up to 4 x 4 meters. The work cleverly employs post-minimal andpost-pop vocabulary.
Easy is a series of drawings that are presented as a storyboard. The work is laid out in the style of acomic strip; each drawing constructs the story of two fingers jumping freely over a paper wall. Theartist introduces another dimension in this work. The drawings were made by a professionalcartoonist, and Cantor employs them as ready-mades. The hand of the artist is removed, and so theproduction process is typical of globalization. Thus Cantor reconsiders the principle of craftsmanshipand questions the notion of free artistic exploration.
Zooooooom is an animated movie that features fictional characters walking towards an unfinishedpyramid-shaped building. Once the characters reach the edifice, they start dismantling it stone bystone. In the end, the viewer’s perspective zooms out which amplifies the fictional aspect giving theviewer the feeling he is being manipulated. The viewer increasingly understands that the theme of thepiece is deconstruction. In fact, Zooooooom is based on a script that secretly tells the story of a onedollarbill. The economic reference is a metaphor for the fragility of Western values.
"White sugar for black days"
In 2002, Romanian artist Mircea Cantorhad his first exhibition at Yvon LambertParis, entitled The Right Man at the RightPlace. Since then, the artist has gainedinternational recognition with solo andgroup exhibitions worldwide.
The gallery is proud to welcome Cantor’swork for the second time in Paris. Theshow follows a travelling exhibition of theartist’s work in Great Britain that hasreceived wide acclaim as one of the mostthrilling this year. The show began atModern Art Oxford, travelled to ArnolfiniBristol and concluded at Camden ArtsCentre in London.
For his Parisian show, Mircea Cantor has decided to present recent works as well as a new version ofan animation he originally produced three years ago:
Seven future gifts is a large-scale sculpture composed of seven concrete ribbons that delineateimaginary gift boxes of different sizes up to 4 x 4 meters. The work cleverly employs post-minimal andpost-pop vocabulary.
Easy is a series of drawings that are presented as a storyboard. The work is laid out in the style of acomic strip; each drawing constructs the story of two fingers jumping freely over a paper wall. Theartist introduces another dimension in this work. The drawings were made by a professionalcartoonist, and Cantor employs them as ready-mades. The hand of the artist is removed, and so theproduction process is typical of globalization. Thus Cantor reconsiders the principle of craftsmanshipand questions the notion of free artistic exploration.
Zooooooom is an animated movie that features fictional characters walking towards an unfinishedpyramid-shaped building. Once the characters reach the edifice, they start dismantling it stone bystone. In the end, the viewer’s perspective zooms out which amplifies the fictional aspect giving theviewer the feeling he is being manipulated. The viewer increasingly understands that the theme of thepiece is deconstruction. In fact, Zooooooom is based on a script that secretly tells the story of a onedollarbill. The economic reference is a metaphor for the fragility of Western values.