2023

Roger Pailhas Prize

Paying tribute to the Marseille-based gallerist, known for his daring and innovative booths within the most prestigious art fairs, Art-o-rama organizes since 2015 the Roger Pailhas Prize. Awarded since 2019 by a committee of collectors and art professionals, François Culioli, Josée Gensollen, Marc Gensollen, Hervé Lebrun, chaired by Benoît Doche de Laquintane and Sébastien Peyret, it rewards the best curatorial project of the fair.

 


Roger Pailhas

Roger Pailhas inaugurated his first gallery in Marseille (Cours Julien area) in 1986 with a group show that gathered Daniel Buren, Gilbert Della-Nocce, Toni Grand, Jannis Kounellis, Sol Le Witt, Mario Merz, and Bruce Nauman. In 1990, he opened a second space in Paris with a solo show by John Knight. In 1996 the Marseille-based gallery moved to the Vieux-Port (old harbour central area) into a 1,000sqm space. He closed the Parisian gallery in 1998 and decided to focus on Marseille instead. In 1996 he created Art Dealers, an original contemporary art fair where he gathered, within the gallery’s space, 8 new international galleries each year.
Meanwhile, he participated in some of the most prestigious international art fairs such as Art Basel, Fiac, and the Armory Show, where he offered, with the complicity of his artists, among the most ambitious and adventurous booths. Samuel Keller himself said that Roger Pailhas’ booths inspired the Statement section of Art Basel. The gallery and Art Dealers ceased to exist when Roger Pailhas passed away in 2005.

 


2022 laureate : Gilles Drouault galerie/multiples, Paris

Jason Dodge

On the occasion of Art-o-rama 2022 Gilles Drouault galerie/multiples presents one specific and singular work by Jason Dodge. The specificity of this work is that it is an exhibition, so the singularity of the exhibition is to be the work itself, defined by different elements. The exhibition is composed of a set of specific objects: 20 Bayer Aspirin advertisements, a flyer to find a missing animal, loose Marigold petals, electric batteries, forks and fabric, and a shopping list. Depending on the location of the exhibition, in this case a booth at Art-O-Rama, Jason Dodge delivers the installation to an artist (dancer, visual artist, poet) or a person involved in contemporary art (critic or curator). The role of this person is to acquire on the spot all the items on the shopping list (found in the street in Berlin), to install them in the exhibition space, and to distribute also the marigold, the rubber bands, the forks and the fabric as he/she wishes. It is thus each time an interpretation of Jason Dodge’s work that is given to the spectator. The work exists as an object and intention, it is realized in its
interpretation.
The person who interpreted Jason Dodge’s work/exhibition in Marseille was Jason Dodge’s choice.
By purchasing, the collector acquires all the elements of the work, it remains for him to interpret it.

 

 


Laureates

2019 : VEDA, Florence, with Dominique White

2021 : Exo Exo, Paris, with Gaspar Willmann

 

 

Prix Roger Pailhas, Jason Dodge, Gilles Drouault galerie/multiples, Paris, Art-o-rama 2022 © Margot Montigny