14 May 2019

Gyan Panchal at Saint-Etienne

For his solo exhibition at the MAMC+, Gyan Panchal assumes the role of architect for his own works, covering a period of a dozen or so years, displaying the gradual progression of his artistic practices. Over almost one thousand square metres, thirty-five sculptures, many on show for the first time, tell the story of his essential relation with materials, at the core of his research.

The exhibition proposes 'climatic moments', by letting the sculptures vibrate under a raw light, then an artificial light, imitating the day, or then under an irradiant whiteness. The cluttered circuit, congested with large monoliths in small spaces, gives way to a form of respiration once the works are flaked, crumbled, broken and split. A short lull precedes the storm which disperses the sculptures into an aquatic environment. Then gradually the colour emerges, stemming from playful objects, as if the sun was shining once again.

The work of Gyan Panchal could be viewed as an extension of that of the formless artists, of Arte povera or the Supports/Surfaces movement which concentrated more on the material and its own story than on the representation or image which resulted. His sculpture therefore is in perfect resonance with the collection of the MAMC+.

Curator : Aurélie Voltz, General Director of the MAMC+

Gyan Panchal was born in 1973, he lives in Eymoutiers (Limousin, France). A graduate of the Jan Van Eyck Academie (Maastricht, NL), he has had many solo shows: at the Contemporary Art Museum of Rochechouart (FR), Frank Elbaz, Paris, Palais de Tokyo, Jhaveri Contemporary, Mumbai (IND) and Maison des Arts Georges Pompidou, Cajarc (FR). His works have recently been exhibited at Centre Pompidou, Paris, the Rennes Biennale, Carré d'art - Contemporary Art Museum in Nîmes (FR), Crédac - art center in Ivry-sur-Seine (FR), Villa Arson, Nice (FR), Maison Populaire de Montreuil (FR), Fondation d'entreprise Ricard, Paris and CAN, Neuchatel (CH).