Homes & Graves & Gardens
Cyprien Gaillard
15 July - 21 October 2007

Curator Chiara Parisi

Between vandalism and minimalist esthetics, romanticism and Land Art, Cyprien Gaillard's work questions the trace of man in nature. His work takes its source in a certain idea of beauty which he finds in natural landscapes vandalized by the action of man on his environment. In his paintings he addresses the construction of 60's architecture which has disfigured natural sites.

The artist also hijacks the iconography of landscapes represented in 17th century Flemish prints, perceived by the artist as so many "ready-to-build" sites. His work also includes videos of urban and peripheral zones, as well as natural landscapes invaded by thick fire extinguisher smoke...

Designed as a sum of analogies between different sites of the housing projects of Glasgow and the cities of the Mayas, or between the lake of Vassivière, the lakes of Yosemite and the artificial lakes of Parisian housing projects, the exhibition is presented at the Centre international d'art et du paysage de l'île de Vassivière in such a way that the viewer is integrated into an environment which creates a journey which is both a mental and physical experience.

Considering the rigidity of the site confronted with a charged history, Cyprien Gaillard proposes to re-inject a form of dynamism by totally transforming the building and proposing a series of events for the inauguration of this exhibition on July 14.

Copyright: Marc Domage, Cyprien Gaillard, Jean-Christophe Radke

Press release