ERIC MANIGAUD
The Shadow
Line
Private View
Thursday June 27th
6.30-8.30pm
Exhibition
Dates
Friday June 28th
– Saturday July 27th 2013
Gallery Hours
Wednesday–Saturday 11am–6pm or by appointment
CHARLIE SMITH
london is delighted to present Eric Manigaud with his first one person
exhibition in London.
Eric Manigaud,
French born and based in St Etienne, is recognised for his impeccably rendered
large scale drawings in pencil and graphite dust. Often reaching 180cm in
height or width, every piece represents an obsessive accomplishment of
technical expertise and takes two to four months to complete. As the French art
critic Philippe Piguet states:
Everything
in his work is of a degree of minutiae taken to an extreme, which propels the
model he uses into a kind of meta-reality exceeding the details…He is an
accomplished artist gifted with an astonishing virtuosity which competes with a
rare expressiveness.
In parallel with
such a commanding deployment of technique is a brutal choice of subject matter,
where the power of the image combines with its realisation to create an
overwhelming and emotive presence. Manigaud searches relentlessly in order to
source second hand imagery, where an instinctive discovery will trigger a new
series of work. Selecting only historical images that refer unintentionally to
the evolution of the modern age, Manigaud reveals empathy for mankind and
simultaneously critiques its progress. Bombed cities, murder sites, asylums and
the African interior are all theatres where modern man has faltered.
Manigaud’s depictions of 19th century asylum inmates express
unparalleled pathos whilst recalling the Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris,
where a young Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) studied under Jean-Martin Charcot (1825-1839), the accepted
founder of modern neurology. Latterly Michel Foucault (1926-1984) would discuss
the Salpêtrière Hospital when tracing the history
of the treatment of the insane in Madness and Civilization. Manigaud’s
drawings of murder victims are based on photographs by the criminologist
Alphonse Bertillon (1853-1914), who
introduced photographic anthropometry into the judicial system by devising classification
techniques that enabled the cataloguing of criminals and crime scenes. Similarly,
photographs taken on expedition to the Ivory Coast by Marcel Monnier
(1853-1918), grandfather of Roland Barthes (1915-1980), are used in Manigaud’s
jungle series. Taken during Mission Binger, the expedition was designed
to help delineate the frontier, being redolent therefore of 19th
century European imperial ambitions that would be realized in the catastrophic
World Wars of the 20th century, from where Manigaud derives his
series of war victims and bombed cities.
Taken together,
these series draw on the archival to represent an intertwined history of
culture, science and politics. Specifically, they are touchstones to
significant events and developments in the modern French period, but which
resonate universally.
Please contact gallery for images and further
information
 |
| Eric Manigaud Klinikum # 5, 2010 Pencil & graphite powder on paper 177x131cm |
Posts
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment