galerie laurent mueller

Éléments ordonnés

The galerie laurent mueller is pleased to announce a dialogue between the German artist Martin Meyenburg and the invited French artist Benoît Blanchard.For this dialogue, both artists have approached the representation of surface and the aesthetic transformation of abstraction from real images; those who configure the artist’s way of looking. In this context, Martin Meyenburg presents his Photogrammes, a new series of works that explore the notions of light and space in a photographic context. Whilst working with the same principles as in his previous pieces - sculptural space explorations that make his work a place of reflection of the artist about an abstract image - he has created a photogram machine. The constructions inside of this machine are projected onto a two dimensional plan, where they are transferred onto photographic paper as unique colour photograms. Benoît Blanchard has created Relevés, a series of drawings which convey realism, as they are sketched from a model and drawn in full scale, as well as abstraction: once the artist gets some distance from his model, he fills the drawn silhouette with his own vocabulary of numerous fine lines which recover the drawing with a geometric veil. The subject of this project--to immortalise the beams of an abandoned farm in Britanny--confers to his work a melancholic touch. Paradoxically, wondering about the abandonment of this surface, Benoît has given a new life to this place left to its own remains.With their personal artistic vision, both artists offer us an exhibition about reality and imagination with memories as driving power, and invite us to think about surface as the starting point for abstraction.

C.G.C



Martin Meyenburg born 1978 in Berlin, Germany.Holds a Master from the Universität der Künste Berlin and received the Walter Hellenthal price for painting in 2007. He has shown in Berlin, Hamburg and Paris. Among his solo exhibitions should be noted:  No Place Like Home at the galerie laurent mueller, Paris in 2012 and Shifting Around with Manuela Barczewski at Minken&Palme, Berlin in 2010. He has also participated in numerous group exhibitions to date.

Benoît Blanchard born in1982 in Lyon, France.Doctor in Aesthetics from the Université Paris 8, he received in 2005 the laureate of the price for young creators from Aulnay-Sous-Bois. Among his solo exhibitions should be noted: Corrections with Cécile de Beauvoir at Laptop, Galerie Daniez & de Charette, Paris in 2013, Politique visuelle invited by REX in Belgrade in 2013, and 502,25m² at the Galerie de Paris 8 in Saint Dennis. Furthermore, he has participated in numerous group exhibitions such as Minimalismes, a collaboration between BG Now and the Galerie Thierry Marlat, Paris in 2013.He has an online publication: Œuvres (http://oeuvres-revue.net)
A catalogue edited by the gallery will published during the exhibition.Paris, January 10th 2014Dear Benoît,
I just spoke to Martin. He told me that he will not be able to participate in the exhibition Éléments ordonnés.
Laurent

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Paris, January 15th 2014
Dear Laurent Müller,
I know neither Martin Meyenburg nor Benoît Blanchard. I have never even visited the galerie laurent mueller nor met its owner. I know that Martin M. is German, that Benoît B. has a beard and that a wooden staircase leads to a small room in the gallery. This might be enough to start writing this introductory text.I have seen some hidden sculptures of Martin Meyenburg, covered with black veils, like The Enigma of Isidore Ducasse by Man Ray.Even though I was told that, in fact, he would be showing drawings at this exhibitions, I couldn’t help but remember his rare three dimensional works.Benoît Blanchard is also interested about what will soon be disappearing, but prefers to reveal it: his great bluish and almost ghostly drawings of beams, joists and other wooden waste from places soon to be destructed are an image of what isn’t anymore. Disappeared in flames, the models of these rélevés in 1:1 scale could have been embers like those the artist is used to draw in his small compositions with precise strokes.In the beams drawn by Benoît Blanchard, forming at the gallery an imaginary future woodshed, the nails stand out as abrasions inflicted on a perceived inert material. We shall not forget that previously, the artist has done delicate drawings of blows inflicted to the faces of anonymous persons.There are no injuries in Martin Meyenburg’s big sculptures: about what happens underneath, we shall never know.
Camille Paulhan

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Paris, February 5th 2014
Dear Martin,
Nothing will be done without you, your work will be taken charge of by Œuvres at the following address http://œuvres-revue.net
Benoît Blanchard