Xavier Veilhan - Nuit mexicaine : Stockholm
Andréhn-Schiptjenko is pleased to announce Nuit Mexicaine, a solo exhibition by Xavier Veilhan. The opening takes place on Thursday November 14 between 5-8 pm in the presence of the artist. The body of work presented in Nuit mexicaine can be considered a collection of pieces in continuity with Veilhan’s ongoing formal research into both figuration and abstraction. The works explore both the second and third dimension, albeit in a smaller, more accessible scale.
For instance, Le Rhinocéros (2019) is part of a new series of small pieces that reproduces images of the animal vocabulary from some of Veilhan’s most emblematic works; in this case the iconic, life-size, bright red Le Rhinocéros (1999, permanent collection of Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou). The small golden work transforms the incredible mass of the subject into an object that can be appropriated, a precious jewel.
For the 57th Venice Art Biennale, Veilhan transformed the French Pavilion into Studio Venezia – a fully operational recording studio in which over 200 musicians were invited to work during the seven months of the exhibition. Instrument n°6 (2019) originated here, inspired by Futuristic concerts and Dadaist instruments with their exaggerated scales and adapted as much to the size of the surrounding architecture as to that of the human body.
Over the decades, mobiles have been a recurring theme in Veilhan’s work: “I have always considered Calder’s invention as being a whole new field in art history rather than simply the apparition of new objects. I try to explore the possibilities of these intangible forms. Their rigorous aspect counters the uncertainty of their form and balance.” (XV) With Le Mobile n°10 the artist has conceived a work, initially based on the particularities of the exhibition space, that can be installed in a multitude of ways.
Nuit mexicaine is also the title of a series of photographs taken during Veilhan’s residency at Fundación Casa Wabi (Puerto Escondido, Mexico) in 2016. This artistic hiatus initiated an important return for the artist to a more artisanal and minimalist approach to sculpture. The title, with connotations both poetic and exotic, not only recalls that unique moment in the artist’s life and work, it also refers to the bright night during which the image in the exhibition was taken.
Xavier Veilhan’s work has been exhibited worldwide in acclaimed institutions such as the Château de Versailles, the Centre Georges Pompidou, the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Strasbourg, the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Geneva and in 2017 at the 57th Venice Biennale, for which he transformed the French Pavilion into Studio Venezia. Veilhan also frequently works in the public space. This year alone, large permanent works have been installed in the cities of Lille (Romy, 2019) and Lausanne (La Crocodile, 2019, with Olivier Mosset) and he will deliver a monumental piece, Vårbergs Jättar for Vårberg, Sweden, in the autumn of 2020.
