| Faced
with disenchantment, for some time now artists have been digging
into the enchanted world of merchandise and logos to find
their inspiration. FRANCIS BAUDEVIN, NIC HESS and MATHIEU
MERCIER navigate fluently through this world. The first imposes
a drastic operation of abstractions on these objects; the
second maneuvers them with flourish and frenzy; and the third
treats them with a deference usually reserved for the great
masters of modernity. Each artist is working within his own
method of sampling. In that way, 0907 could be seen as three
separate proposals forming three small exhibitions. However
all three come together in 0907, as though they are working
towards a common Esperanto of Logos.
The paring down of corporate identities into geometric wall
paintings by Francis Baudevin is a Spartan counterpoint to
the energy of Nic Hess’s work: sprawling wall-based
collages of logos and emblems, repeated in geometric more
free-form patterns where logos begin to creep along the walls
and become animated. Mathieu Mercier considers the history
of design, the worlds of science fiction and bricolage with
the same respect as the great legacy of the avant-garde.
FRANCIS BAUDEVIN lives in Geneva where he works with graphic
design from industrial packaging, reducing images to their
basic elements of form and color. Painting both on canvas
and on the wall, his works have an abstract appearance, but
are still representational in the sense that he is reproducing
images that are just on the other side of recognizable.
NIC HESS is based in Zurich and Mexico City. He borrows images
from the world of consumerism and advertising to create lush
wall paintings using colored adhesive tape. Universally understandable
logos and icons of industrial brands gain new meaning through
Hess’s juxtapositions and visionary combinations.
MATHIEU MERCIER, based in Paris and recipient of the 2003
Prix Marcel Duchamp, is interested in the relationship between
contemporary mass-produced consumer objects and their relationship
to the history of twentieth century art and design. Using
both household and industrial materials, he recreates the
utopian ideals of the historical avant-garde with a contemporary
sensibility, recycling everyday objects into recognizable
canons of art history.
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