Exhibitions, France, Departement de Ville-de-Paris, Paris, 18 October 2012
Galerie Christophe Gaillard
12, rue de Thorigny 75003 Paris
01 42 78 49 16 - contact@galerie-gaillard.com
www.galeriegaillard.com
Galerie Christophe Gaillard
Christophe Gaillard Gallery is pleased to present Blue Angels, the first
solo exhibition by New York-based artist Michelle Lopez in Paris.
The exhibition is composed of a new series of (4) ten-foot tall, mirrored,
aluminum forms, that continue the artist’s investigation of sculptural
history and its breakdown. In this instance, Lopez looks to the legacy
of Minimalism in order to examine the fascist quality of the monolith.
Specifically large-scale and wall-based, Lopez’ Blue Angels reference
both Chamberlain and McCracken. They each lean against the wall,
having been manipulated to sag and endowed with a feather-like paper
quality that negates the finish fetish. This body of work continues the
artist’s trajectory examining notions of gravity, the spectator’s activation
of the piece, and finally failure. And with this pretext, Lopez examines the
loaded repeat of forms, of Minimalism, and even of human experience as
each sculpture seems to either be gaining strength to stand, or collapsing
in on itself after great exertion.
As a cultural frame of reference, “Blue Angels” are US Navy demonstration
flying planes, meant for acrobatic aerial display, that create both a
spectacle and a spectatorship sport of old flying technology, without
the bravado or cruelty of war. Lopez folds this fetished contradiction
of object into her forms. The mirrored surface of the exterior gathers
the industrial reference of an airplane wing and implicates the viewer
through its reflective distortions. The interior of the work is finished with
automotive/vehicle paint, selected through the lens of airline colors. For
this particular body of the work, the colors come specifically from the
orange-red of Delta Airlines and the powder blue of Korean Air. Yet these
archetypes, among others, are on the verge of collapse.
Among the four Blue Angels, there is one matte white, powder-coated
aluminum piece that has a jet-black interior and evokes a large piece of
paper. Again, Lopez defies expectation of the material and turns industrial
aluminum into a crumpled delicate form. Despite the assembly-line
materials, the artist approaches the work as a drawing and manipulates
each work herself. This white work is a more overt association with
sculpture as drawing.
Michael Wilson of Artforum reviewed Blue Angels when the first interation of the series appeared at Simon Preston Gallery
in New York: “Turning Minimalist form against itself is hardly a new idea-one might even consider, it a genre unto itselfbut
it still offers room for maneuver. In Vertical Neck, her second solo exhibition at Simon Preston, Brooklyn-based artist
Michelle Lopez presented a strong, clean suite of five new sculptures that capitalize on the movement’s enduring legacy
but sidestep parody and polemic to arrive at a more subtly allusive language.... Three roughly folded and heavily crumpled
sheets of aluminum lean against the wall and tower above head height, their interiors painted blue or black, their exteriors
white or colorlessly reflective.The suggestion that attempts at formal perfection are necessarily doomed to failure is clear,
but in their fun- house-mirror distortions, these works direct that argument at not only artistic folly but also the viewer’s
own vanities and imperfections. Still, the news isn’t all bad; there’s an insinuation in the aluminum’s shiny. paper- like
surfaces of gift wrap, a hint of celebration and renewal.... [T]here is a hint of nose-thumbing at the consistent anality of
the Guys, but Lopez’s remake is more understated, more extensive, more radical-and a lot more appealing-than that might
imply.” (Artforum, November 2011)
Eight ink drawings on watercolor paper, which are studies for the series, will be presented for the first time. And the
mirrored aluminum Blue Angels are new works (2012) created for this exhibition.
Michelle Lopez received her MFA from the School of Visual Arts, New York and BA from Barnard College, Columbia
University, New York. Lopez has had solo exhibitions at Simon Preston Gallery, LA>
1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City (2000); New York; Public Art Fund, Metrotech Center, New York (2000); and
California Biennial, OCMA, Orange County, CA (2004). She was awarded a NYFA grant in the category of sculpture (2011),
a NYFA fiscal sponsorship (2009). In Fall 2012, Lopez recently joined the Yale Department of Art as full time faculty in the
department of sculpture. Michelle Lopez lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
Michelle Lopez, Blue angels
From October 18 to November 24, 2012
Opening on October 18, from 6 pm to 11 pm
for the gallery night (Nocturne des Galeries) during the FIAC
Michelle Lopez, Blue Angels, 2012
12, rue de Thorigny 75003 Paris
01 42 78 49 16 - contact@galerie-gaillard.com
www.galeriegaillard.com
Galerie Christophe Gaillard
Christophe Gaillard Gallery is pleased to present Blue Angels, the first
solo exhibition by New York-based artist Michelle Lopez in Paris.
The exhibition is composed of a new series of (4) ten-foot tall, mirrored,
aluminum forms, that continue the artist’s investigation of sculptural
history and its breakdown. In this instance, Lopez looks to the legacy
of Minimalism in order to examine the fascist quality of the monolith.
Specifically large-scale and wall-based, Lopez’ Blue Angels reference
both Chamberlain and McCracken. They each lean against the wall,
having been manipulated to sag and endowed with a feather-like paper
quality that negates the finish fetish. This body of work continues the
artist’s trajectory examining notions of gravity, the spectator’s activation
of the piece, and finally failure. And with this pretext, Lopez examines the
loaded repeat of forms, of Minimalism, and even of human experience as
each sculpture seems to either be gaining strength to stand, or collapsing
in on itself after great exertion.
As a cultural frame of reference, “Blue Angels” are US Navy demonstration
flying planes, meant for acrobatic aerial display, that create both a
spectacle and a spectatorship sport of old flying technology, without
the bravado or cruelty of war. Lopez folds this fetished contradiction
of object into her forms. The mirrored surface of the exterior gathers
the industrial reference of an airplane wing and implicates the viewer
through its reflective distortions. The interior of the work is finished with
automotive/vehicle paint, selected through the lens of airline colors. For
this particular body of the work, the colors come specifically from the
orange-red of Delta Airlines and the powder blue of Korean Air. Yet these
archetypes, among others, are on the verge of collapse.
Among the four Blue Angels, there is one matte white, powder-coated
aluminum piece that has a jet-black interior and evokes a large piece of
paper. Again, Lopez defies expectation of the material and turns industrial
aluminum into a crumpled delicate form. Despite the assembly-line
materials, the artist approaches the work as a drawing and manipulates
each work herself. This white work is a more overt association with
sculpture as drawing.
Michael Wilson of Artforum reviewed Blue Angels when the first interation of the series appeared at Simon Preston Gallery
in New York: “Turning Minimalist form against itself is hardly a new idea-one might even consider, it a genre unto itselfbut
it still offers room for maneuver. In Vertical Neck, her second solo exhibition at Simon Preston, Brooklyn-based artist
Michelle Lopez presented a strong, clean suite of five new sculptures that capitalize on the movement’s enduring legacy
but sidestep parody and polemic to arrive at a more subtly allusive language.... Three roughly folded and heavily crumpled
sheets of aluminum lean against the wall and tower above head height, their interiors painted blue or black, their exteriors
white or colorlessly reflective.The suggestion that attempts at formal perfection are necessarily doomed to failure is clear,
but in their fun- house-mirror distortions, these works direct that argument at not only artistic folly but also the viewer’s
own vanities and imperfections. Still, the news isn’t all bad; there’s an insinuation in the aluminum’s shiny. paper- like
surfaces of gift wrap, a hint of celebration and renewal.... [T]here is a hint of nose-thumbing at the consistent anality of
the Guys, but Lopez’s remake is more understated, more extensive, more radical-and a lot more appealing-than that might
imply.” (Artforum, November 2011)
Eight ink drawings on watercolor paper, which are studies for the series, will be presented for the first time. And the
mirrored aluminum Blue Angels are new works (2012) created for this exhibition.
Michelle Lopez received her MFA from the School of Visual Arts, New York and BA from Barnard College, Columbia
University, New York. Lopez has had solo exhibitions at Simon Preston Gallery, LA>
1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City (2000); New York; Public Art Fund, Metrotech Center, New York (2000); and
California Biennial, OCMA, Orange County, CA (2004). She was awarded a NYFA grant in the category of sculpture (2011),
a NYFA fiscal sponsorship (2009). In Fall 2012, Lopez recently joined the Yale Department of Art as full time faculty in the
department of sculpture. Michelle Lopez lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
Michelle Lopez, Blue angels
From October 18 to November 24, 2012
Opening on October 18, from 6 pm to 11 pm
for the gallery night (Nocturne des Galeries) during the FIAC
Michelle Lopez, Blue Angels, 2012
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