Mathieu Mercier: Everything but the Kitchen Sink

Lamps, furniture, bicycles, typography, museum pedestals—the work of Mathieu Mercier, winner of the Prix Marcel Duchamp (2003), born 1970 in Conflans-Saint-Honorine, and now living in Paris, moves con­fidently between art and everyday culture. He keeps ­referring back to the work of his heroes Marcel Duchamp and Piet Mondrian. Yet, Mathieu Mercier does not want to make inaccessible art, but works that are »instantly descriptive and attractive«. The banal everyday objects he presents are indeed at first simply beautiful. Mercier speaks in this regard of »sublimation«, of a finishing ­process that guides the objects to a higher level. The targeted change of position, the permanent exchange between high and low, raises the question as to the ­status of things between functionality and artistic pur­poselessness. Mathieu Mercier skillfully reflects the ­concepts of Western culture of the 20th century in the field of tension between modern architecture, design and visual arts.

Exhibitions:
LOK Kunstmuseum St.Gallen, 23/8–9/11/2014
Villa Merkel Esslingen, 13/12/2014–22/2/2015
 

Mathieu Mercier, born 1970 in St-Honorine lives in Paris. His artistic practice is related to his curatorial perceptions. In 2015, he edited a new version of De ou par Marcel Duchmap ou Rrose Sélavy (the famous Boite-en-valise). His studies lead him from the art academy of Bourges to Paris and finally to Nantes where he degreed in 1997. His first prominent show was 2003 at Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris after the receipt of the Prix Marcel Duchamp. He also had exhibitions 2007 in Paris at Musée d’art moderne de la vielle de Paris, and 2008 at Kunsthalle Nuremberg. The show at the Städtische Galerie Villa Merkel in Esslingen and Lokremise in St Gallen was a personal highlight in 2014.

Andreas Baur is director of the Städtische Galerie Villa Merkel in Esslingen; he edited and wrote critical essays for the monographic catalogs of Darren Almond, Willie Doherty, Hamish Fulton, Alan Kaprow, Manfred Kuttner, Andreas Schulze, Marcus Weber as well as for GOOD SPACE (2017) and Better than de Kooning (2015) among others.