2021

Salle Principale, Paris

Endre Tót, Matthieu Saladin, Ícaro Lira et Stéphane Barbier Bouvet

A dialogue between artists of different origins and generations, whose work echoes current events.

 

The older generation is represented by the Hungarian artist Endre Tót. This narrow selection is completed by the French artist Matthieu Saladin, born in 1978, and the Brazilian artist Icaro Lira, born in 1986.

 

Endre Tót is an emblematic figure of conceptual art. Since the early 1970s the artist has been implementing strategies to escape the censorship of the repressive regime of the time. With the series ‘Joys’ and ‘Gladnesses’, he realized parodic actions of the culture of optimism. For Art-O-Rama, the gallery presents photographic documents of furtive actions carried out in Budapest that escaped the control of the authorities and actions testifying the joy the artist felt in 1979 in regaining his freedom outside his native Hungary.

 

Following a conceptual approach, Matthieu Saladin infiltrates the economic, social and political mechanisms he analyses in group relationships. He uses sound, print, performance, objects and information technology. For Art-O-Rama, the artist exposes works resulting from a reflection on the problematic of debt, employer exploitation and control strategies in public space.

 

Ícaro Lira analyzes the implications and evolution of Brazilian political and historical acts through documentary, archival, archaeological and fictional works. He thinks history is a living matter constantly crushed by the weight of official narratives, written by the most powerful. In search of counter-narratives, he collects objects, texts, articles and images that link historical events he has directly experienced or witnessed.

 

In the context of the fair, two chairs by Stéphane Barbier Bouvet will be used as reception furniture.
The « Contract » chair is between functional design and sculpture.

https://www.salleprincipale.com/current-upcoming/

 

 

Endre Tót

On est heureux quand on manifeste, Paris (1979)
Silver gelatin print
7,2 x 10,5 cm
Unique
Courtesy of Salle Principale

Ícaro Lira

Sans titre (2019)
Cardboard, cardboard folder, pages from Paris Match (1945), slate,
wood, paper clip, pages from the book L’image de Samuel Beckett, cut-out
postcards
50 x 45,5 cm
Photo © Salle Principale
Courtesy of Salle Principale

Matthieu Saladin

Horloge lestée (2019)
Installation, wall clock, fishing sinkers
ed. 3 + 1 AP
Photo : Exhibition view of « Temps partiels II. Flextime » au BBB centre d’art, Curator & photo credit to Émile Ouroumov
Courtesy of Salle Principale