{"id":8407,"date":"2014-10-13T12:12:40","date_gmt":"2014-10-13T10:12:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/?p=8407"},"modified":"2014-10-13T14:14:27","modified_gmt":"2014-10-13T12:14:27","slug":"david-altmejds-retrospective-in-paris-nightmares-have-never-been-so-beautiful-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2014\/10\/13\/david-altmejds-retrospective-in-paris-nightmares-have-never-been-so-beautiful-2\/","title":{"rendered":"David Altmejd&#8217;s retrospective in Paris: nightmares have never been so beautiful"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t<style type=\"text\/css\">\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 {\n\t\t\t\tmargin: auto;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-item {\n\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\n\t\t\t\tmargin-top: 10px;\n\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\n\t\t\t\twidth: 33%;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 img {\n\t\t\t\tborder: 2px solid #cfcfcf;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-caption {\n\t\t\t\tmargin-left: 0;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes\/media.php *\/\n\t\t<\/style>\n\t\t<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-8407 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/dsc_0061\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"84\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/DSC_0061-480x270.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-8392\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-8392'>\n\t\t\t\tDavid Altmejd, Flux, installation view.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/dsc_0073\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"84\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/DSC_0073-270x480.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-8390\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-8390'>\n\t\t\t\tDavid Altmejd, The giant, 2006. Private collection.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/dsc_0079\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"84\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/DSC_0079-270x480.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-8391\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-8391'>\n\t\t\t\tDavDavid Altmejd, The giant, detail.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/dsc_0086\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"84\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/DSC_0086-270x480.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-8393\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-8393'>\n\t\t\t\tDavid Altmejd, The island, 2011. Courtesy, the Brant Foundation, Greenwich, Connecticut.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/dsc_0087\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"84\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/DSC_0087-480x270.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-8394\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-8394'>\n\t\t\t\tDavid Altmejd, ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUWVZ, 2011. Courtesy Lemhann-Art  Ltd.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/dsc_0105\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"84\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/DSC_0105-270x480.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-8395\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-8395'>\n\t\t\t\tDavid Altmejd, La Palette, 2014. Courtesy David Altmejd\/ Andrea Rosen Gallery.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/2014\/10\/13\/david-altmejds-retrospective-in-paris-nightmares-have-never-been-so-beautiful-2\/dsc_0107\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"84\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/DSC_0107-270x480.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-8408\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-8408'>\n\t\t\t\tDavid Altmejd, Flux, The body builders, installation view.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/dsc_0111\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"84\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/DSC_0111-270x480.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-8396\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-8396'>\n\t\t\t\tDavid Altmejd, Flux, The body builders, installation view.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/dsc_0121\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"84\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/DSC_0121-480x270.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-8397\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-8397'>\n\t\t\t\tDavid Altmejd, Le souffle et la voile, 2010. Detail.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/dsc_0168\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"84\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/DSC_0168-480x270.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-8398\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-8398'>\n\t\t\t\tDavid Altmejd, The flux and the puddle, 2014, installation view. Courtesy David Altmejd\/ Andrea Rosen Gallery.  \n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/dsc_0147\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"84\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/DSC_0147-480x269.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-8399\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-8399'>\n\t\t\t\tDavid Altmejd, The flux and the puddle, 2014, detail. Courtesy David Altmejd\/ Andrea Rosen Gallery.  \n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/dsc_0150\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"84\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/DSC_0150-270x480.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-8400\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-8400'>\n\t\t\t\tDavid Altmejd, The flux and the puddle, 2014, detail. Courtesy David Altmejd\/ Andrea Rosen Gallery.  \n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/dsc_0154\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"84\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/DSC_0154-480x269.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-8401\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-8401'>\n\t\t\t\tDavid Altmejd, The flux and the puddle, 2014, detail. Courtesy David Altmejd\/ Andrea Rosen Gallery.  \n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/dsc_0156\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"84\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/DSC_0156-480x270.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-8402\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-8402'>\n\t\t\t\tDavid Altmejd, The flux and the puddle, 2014, detail. Courtesy David Altmejd\/ Andrea Rosen Gallery.  \n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/dsc_0162\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"84\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/DSC_0162-270x480.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-8403\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-8403'>\n\t\t\t\tDavid Altmejd, Le nouvelle espace, 2014. Courtesy David Altmejd\/ Andrea Rosen Gallery.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/dsc_0174\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"113\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/CFA-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/DSC_0174-360x480.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-8404\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-8404'>\n\t\t\t\tDavid Altmejd, Untitled, 2006. Tiago Ltd &#8211; The Taqui Atencio Collection.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl>\n\t\t\t<br style='clear: both' \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"JUSTIFY\">Remember, what you see is just a sculpture. All the gigantic ants, reptiles, broken mirrors, strange flowers, sharp fangs, crystals, fake jewels, disturbing holes that you will spot here and there at the seminal exhibition the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mam.paris.fr\/en\/expositions\/exposition-david-altmejd\" target=\"_blank\">Mus\u00e9e d&#8217;Art Modern de la Ville de Pari<\/a>s is devoting to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.davidaltmejd.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">David Altmejd<\/a> (until 1st February 2015) are just elements requiring a basic sculptural approach. They are not related to any external area of knowledge, or storytelling, and it would be a mistake to put them in the realm of the ready made, even if, in effect, they have not been shaped by the hands of artist. On the contrary, they have to be considered simply as words of a personal vocabulary.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"JUSTIFY\">It follows that the hyper elaborated three dimensional pieces that the 40-year-old Canadian artist presents in Paris, part of them coming from his early career and some others made specifically for this show, are the kind of artworks for which the beholder doesn&#8217;t need any related, or additional, information. He is just asked to stand and look carefully. The concept behind them, their simple software, lies in the artist&#8217;s will of generating objects of beauty, possibly talking about the human beings and their destiny.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"JUSTIFY\">What Almejd is suggesting about us is pretty easy to figure out, and is similar to what has been said by artists like Salvator Dal\u00ed, as proved by the stairs inside the right leg of \u201cThe Giant (2006); Lucio Fontana, quoted by every hole Altmejd digs, and by each crystal he places; Francis Bacon, not only for the distortions of the faces Altmejd often applies, but also for the perfect geometric frame into which the subjects are placed; Anselm Kiefer, for the kind of attention the German artist pays to each minuscule details and his peculiar use of figuration. For all of them, and for Altmejd too, the fundamental message of art is that human beings are made of infinity, beauty and fear.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"JUSTIFY\">Moreover, Almejd pays a special tribute to lighting and colour, and that is probably his real trademark. A sophisticated mixture of warm and cold light enhanced by mirrors characterizes each single group of pieces, and particularly the ambitious The Flux and The Puddle. This \u201csumma\u201d of the artist&#8217;s art practice, especially composed for this show, owes a considerable part of its extraordinary visual strength to the unique light&#8217;s temperature in the room. The fresh, pure, airy, and clean atmosphere turns the obsession for details \u2013 that sometimes are not even visible to the public, as claimed by the artist \u2013 into an extraordinary pleasant and funny experience.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"JUSTIFY\">The last reference we would like to underline is the one connected to the representation of the movement that Almejd puts up each time he applies to sculpture certain elements like, for example, his hands. The artist himself has revealed that his hands are represented on the bodies of \u201cThe body builder\u201d series, while \u201cshaping\u201d them. In this case the tribute is of course to the research made by Futurists and Cubists \u2013 Marcel Duchamp included \u2013 at their time. However, while many artists since then have tried to represent through sculpture and painting the reality around them, seldom the artists have represented themselves while creating the artwork itself. Only certain photographers do so.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; &nbsp; Remember, what you see is just a sculpture. All the gigantic ants, reptiles, broken mirrors, strange flowers, sharp fangs, crystals, fake jewels, disturbing holes that you will spot [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8390,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1796],"tags":[1837],"class_list":["post-8407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mapping-the-artscape","tag-david-altmejd"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conceptualfinearts.com\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}