2022/09/07 - 2022/10/15
DUMONTEIL Shanghai
DUMONTEIL Shanghai
DUMONTEIL Shanghai is pleased to present "My Side of the Mountain", the solo exhibition of French artist Vincent Cazeneuve. This is the artist’s third solo show with the gallery, showcasing his most recent practice in the last two years after his resettlement in the Daba Mountains in central China. Featuring nearly twenty works, including several large-scale pieces, the exhibition encompasses his insightful research into ancient Yi lacquer culture, while continuing his exploration of materials and craftsmanship across time.
Cazeneuve’s continuing research into the history of lacquer and its related traditional crafts has been an important catalyst for his work, enabling him to break the constraints of traditional concepts such as lacquer painting and lacquerware and create his own 'abstract totem'. Over the past two years, the millennia-old lacquer culture of the Yi people has been the focus of Cazeneuve's research. The use of lacquer penetrates all areas of Yi's social life, and what most impresses the artist is the ancient Yi leather armour.
The exhibition also offers an overview of the artist’s practice during the past few years with several large-scale works, including a five-panel folding screen inspired by the Art Deco period and the artist's largest rice-bag-fabric supported lacquer piece to date. The ruffled texture of the rice bag is reflected in the polished gold leaves, like a sunlit mountain range, rocky and yet fluid like the waves of the sea. In the centre of the work, the colour variations of the natural lacquer (creamy white, brown and black) are used to ignite the initial form of life, the origin of nature.
Vincent Cazeneuve's passionate study of lacquer culture is driven by his pursuit of profoundness and eternity in art. He believes that a piece of art should be equally appreciated and valued regardless of its time - a thousand-year-old artefact, an antique from the last century, or a contemporary multimedia installation. It is the efforts of each generation that have culminated in the creativity of humanity. One can only leave a mark that is strong enough to resist death if one strives to create, to learn new techniques, to overcome technical and material difficulties. The artist looks forward to his work encountering the civilization of the next millennium.
Cazeneuve’s continuing research into the history of lacquer and its related traditional crafts has been an important catalyst for his work, enabling him to break the constraints of traditional concepts such as lacquer painting and lacquerware and create his own 'abstract totem'. Over the past two years, the millennia-old lacquer culture of the Yi people has been the focus of Cazeneuve's research. The use of lacquer penetrates all areas of Yi's social life, and what most impresses the artist is the ancient Yi leather armour.
The exhibition also offers an overview of the artist’s practice during the past few years with several large-scale works, including a five-panel folding screen inspired by the Art Deco period and the artist's largest rice-bag-fabric supported lacquer piece to date. The ruffled texture of the rice bag is reflected in the polished gold leaves, like a sunlit mountain range, rocky and yet fluid like the waves of the sea. In the centre of the work, the colour variations of the natural lacquer (creamy white, brown and black) are used to ignite the initial form of life, the origin of nature.
Vincent Cazeneuve's passionate study of lacquer culture is driven by his pursuit of profoundness and eternity in art. He believes that a piece of art should be equally appreciated and valued regardless of its time - a thousand-year-old artefact, an antique from the last century, or a contemporary multimedia installation. It is the efforts of each generation that have culminated in the creativity of humanity. One can only leave a mark that is strong enough to resist death if one strives to create, to learn new techniques, to overcome technical and material difficulties. The artist looks forward to his work encountering the civilization of the next millennium.