Gainsb’Art, a gathering of devilishly pop portraits featuring Lord Anthony Cahn – L’Express
As we know, the late Serge Gainsbourg devoted himself exclusively to the goddess of painting before hanging up his brushes and becoming the brilliant all-rounder of French chanson who, more than thirty years after his death, continues to enchant younger generations. Today, it is artists who pay tribute to him. Painters, sculptors, visual artists, designers and urban artists: 24 of them portray him on the walls of Yoxeone Art Gallery, both a luxury boutique and a creative space opened by Sélim Gouaned on rue de la Sourdière, in the heart of Paris, in the spirit of Andy Warhol’s Factory.
The adventure – for it is one! – was initiated by Roberto Battistini, the photographer who, in autumn 1985, took subverted portraits of the singer, including the one that has remained in the collective memory, Gainsbourg en Dali, eyes wide open and moustache pointing skywards. The others – Gainsbourg with a Gitane between his lips, or wearing a beret… – are no less iconic. Starting from these portraits, Battistini asked established artists to bring their own world and vision to bear on the dandy of pop. Under the title Gainsb’Art, the project has grown as international creators of every generation, country and background have joined it.
Before even stepping through the door of Yoxeone Art Gallery, visitors discover through the window the variations on Rue de Verneuil by the Parisian artist Lord Anthony Cahn. Known for his work on the “walls” he sculpts at different scales, the visual artist has, as usual, set out to capture the spirit of an iconic place – here, Serge Gainsbourg’s Paris home, where the house-museum dedicated to the singer is due to open soon.
Made from building materials covered with posters and colourful graffiti evoking Battistini’s portraits, the “wall” reveals a completely different side on its inner face, painted black like the radical colour scheme adopted at home by “the man with the cabbage head”. The double-sided work is full of details, some of them miniature, which reveal themselves beyond the first glance. The icing on the cake: buyers of the “wall”, as of all the others, receive a proper title deed. (Note that this Rue de Verneuil wall is for sale at 17,000 euros.)
Among the other visual artists who have joined in, the German Peter Klasen, co-founder of Narrative Figuration, appropriates the famous Gainsbourg en Dali, scattering it with graphic references to the great Serge’s provocations, including the unforgettable 500-franc note he burned with a Zippo on a television news programme. Further on, SkunkDog from Marseille, true to his artistic signature, mixes texts, signs, materials and a dazzling colour palette, while Juan Le Parc masterfully portrays a bald Serge, L’Homme à la tête de fou du chocolat Lanvin. Just as striking are the moving Je t’aime et je crains de m’égarer, woven in red thread by the outstanding knitter Anna Kache, Stéphane Pencréac’h’s Cargo Culte, and Eric Liot’s symbol-laden assemblages. Not to mention Orlan’s self-portrait, merging – rather joyfully – with Gainsbourg and Dali.
Every tribute to Serge Gainsbourg is welcome. France knows this well, having successively hosted the Gainsb’Art event at the Bettina, BOA, Keza and W galleries in Paris, Art to Be Gallery in Lille, then David Pluskwa’s gallery in Marseille, before it welcomed tens of thousands of visitors to the Chapelle Sainte-Anne in La Baule last summer. The long-awaited opening of the Maison Gainsbourg will no doubt be the next XXL chapter in this timeless tribute to the master wordsmith of French song, whom we never tire of celebrating.
By Letizia Dannery Original link: L’exposition à voir : Gainsb’Art, une réunion de portraits pop en diable – L’Express (lexpress.fr)
