L’homme gris
The gallery loaned artworks by John Urho Kemp on the occasion of the exhibition L’homme gris, open until june 6th, 2021 at the Casino Luxembourg.
L’homme gris explores non-archetypal representations of the Devil in contemporary art. Far from disappearing, his image has simply mutated, showing again his fascinating ability to adapt which has allowed him to pass through art history - and mankind - unabated. While the way in which he slips away, transforms, infiltrates allows him to claim an all-the-more dangerous, powerful, or liberating position, it offers artists two possible paths to explore. Their choice sways between the empty shell, the costume to don, the pure image, and an elusive and constant metamorphosis.
Curator: Benjamin Bianciotto.
This Californian artist, who died in 2010, had a degree in chemical engineering. Fascinated by meditation and metaphysics, he sought to unravel the mysteries of existence through formulas and numbers drawn from his own history. This “conceptual brut” artist sometimes photocopied his work to distribute it to as many people as possible. In 2014, Daniel Baumann introduced him to the 548 Center in New York. The following year, we entrusted Gael Charbau with writing an essay and curing the monographic exhibition held at the gallery. In the same year, Alfred
A significant number of his works was donated to the Centre Pompidou collection in 2021.