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Xavier Veilhan: “My project for Versailles mainly addresses the outdoor realm, following an east/west axis across the estate, from the Place d’Armes to Le Nôtre’s formal gardens. I will be placing several works or groups of works conceived especially for this exhibition, which will articulate the continuity that joins the site’s history to its contemporary protraction. This is a project that is dynamic, classical, open and universal, aiming to establish a new bond between visitors to the place and the spaces they come into contact with.” Xavier Veilhan
In whatever medium they are produced – photography, sculpture, public statuary, video, installation or even the art of exhibition itself – the architecture of Xavier Veilhan’s works is built around the backbone of the possibilities of representation.
One of the most visible hallmarks of his polymorphous output is the application of a generic version to forms and objects. These are given pared-down treatment without either detail or psychological content. Veilhan’s figures are archetypes reduced to their essence, ready for the viewer to project him or herself directly into them and go beyond the anecdotal Fascinated by issues of modernity and technical progress, Veilhan is likewise interested in mechanical systems, in the construction of machines. From stereotype to prototype, the artist has shuffled the papers and mixed up the coordinates, while clinging to standards. Mechanical modernity has been a constant, transverse presence in Xavier Veilhan’s career since its outset in the late 1980s, and has loomed large in his recent exhibitions. Xavier Veilhan also likes to offer the viewer the experience of a visit within a vast space. The load-bearing structure is always clearly revealed, however, to prevent any threat of illusion: Veilhan’s art is first and foremost about construction. Since the major installations of the late 1990s, Xavier Veilhan has been applying himself to the exercise of working out scenographic elements for his own works, and those of other artists, too. The devices of exhibition, from the Gardens of Versailles via constructivist propaganda techniques to the grand venues of the World Fairs and Universal Exhibitions, provide fertile analytical material for an artist who is fascinated by the orchestration of power and its materialisation in iconography. Bénédicte Ramade, November 2008 One-man shows and projects:
Andréhn-Schiptjenko, Stockholm; Galeria Javier Lopez, Madrid; Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris & Miami; Gering&Lopez Gallery, New York; Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli, Turin; Centre Pompidou, Paris; MAMC, Strasbourg; The National Academy Museum, York; Barbican Centre, London; CCAKitakyushu (Japan); Göteborgs Konsthall (Sweden); Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona; MAMCO, Geneva; ARC MAM, Paris… Collective exhibitions:
Centre Pompidou, Paris; Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Munich; La Force de l’art/Grand Palais 2006, Paris; Domaine Pommery, Reims; Simon Lee Gallery, London; Viktor Pinchuk Foundation, Kiev; Nuit Blanche 2006, Paris; Bienial de Valencia; Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris; Musée du Louvre, Paris; 7th Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art; Tate Gallery, London; Guggenheim Museum Soho, New York; Fondation Cartier, Paris; Kwangju Biennale, South Korea…
13th September to 13th December 2009
This program can change
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