Martin van Zomeren is pleased to present ‘Not Necessarily Words’, Jean-Baptiste Maitre’s (B. 1978, France) first solo presentation at the gallery.
The exhibition consists of three different strategies of presentation which compete with the mediation of art.
Written means of communication such as articles, catalogues, images and films which are mediating art forms are the artist’s working material. In ‘Shaped Cinema’, several pages taken from a 1972 MOMA catalogue of Frank Stella’s Shaped Canvases and its critical
text by William Rubin are reprinted onto 35 mm Kodak film strips. The motion film thereby produces flickering images of the fragmented catalogue, resulting in the deconstruction
of the discourse on Stella’s work.
The installation ‘Plywood As Media’ presents us with a copy of a plank using plaster and silkscreen prints that reproduces the pattern of plywood. Through depicting the concept of ‘nature morte’ (‘still life’ in French literally translated to ‘dead nature’) Maitre gives back a representational form to a shape quoted from minimalist vocabulary which focuses
on the literal object instead.
In a similarly deceptive method, the artist presents a written statement ‘Not Necessarily
Words’, depicting what may seem at first sight the widely used contemporary form of neon signs. Instead, one notices that it is created with a different medium - fragile ceramics.
Jean-Baptiste Maitre received his art history diploma from Paris-4 Sorbonne University as well as Fine Arts and studio photography at both Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts and Gobelins-l’école de l’image (2004).
He worked as a Fine Art researcher at the Jan Van Eyck Akademy, Maastricht during 2007 - 2008 . In 2010 Maitre completed his residency program at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam.
Recent exhibition include ‘Play Biennial’, Guggenheim Museum, New York, ‘10 ausgewählte Positionen’ Kunstraum Dusseldorf (2010) and ‘Chanting Baldessari’, Bonnefantenmuseum,
Maastricht among others. ‘Not Necessarily Words’ is his first exhibition show in Amsterdam.
For further information please contact Ayelet Yanai at contact@gmvz.com
