BERTRAND LAVIER – WALT DISNEY SERIES
2016-02-08Walt Disney Productions is but one of several distinct bodies of work that Lavier has developed over the years, and which he refers to as chantiers. The term means ‘building site’ in English: a reference to the fact that each corpus is a work in progress, and therefore a mechanism through which to deal with constantly evolving issues about the nature of art, and the way that it is both appreciated and exhibited. Another famous chantier encompasses threedimensional objects that have been covered in a thick layer of paint, one that is identical in colour to whatever lies beneath, right down to the smallest details. Except for the paint, Lavier’s objects look exactly like the original – which confuses the viewer’s visual perception. The cabinet in this exhibition is a typical example of this process. Lavier describes these works as being painted sur le motif, a 19th-century artistic term that means ‘the painting of objects’ or ‘what the eye actually sees’. In this chantier, the idea is taken to a literal extreme. Yet by playing with such ambiguous words and concepts, the artist is also inviting the viewer to consider the true nature of this cabinet: is it an ordinary object or an artwork? Thus Lavier questions our notions about the way in which works of art are perceived, valued and accepted.
Opposite – Walt Disney Productions 1947-2015 N°7, 2015
Exhibition runs through till February 20th, 2016
Xavier Hufkens
St-Jorisstraat 6 Rue Saint-George
B – 1050 Brussels
Belgium
