Art Paris

Dear friends of the gallery,

We are delighted to welcome you back to the Grand Palais for the Art Paris Art Fair. Echoing the exhibition organized by the Musée Départemental Matisse on the work of Jean Dewasne, "Constructed Colour: From Anti-Sculpture to Architecture," from March 22nd to June 9th, 2014, the theme of our stand at Art Paris this year is "Around Jean Dewasne."

"Jean Dewasne's output is punctuated by numerous masterpieces that already rank among the landmark works of the second half of the 20th century: 'Apotheosis of Marat' (1951), 'Tomb of Anton Webern' (1952), 'The Long March' (1968), 'Red Habitacle' (1972), 'Jet-Underground' (Hanover subway, 1975). He reached the peak of his art with the Four Murals of the Grande Arche de la Défense in 1985, a sketch, well ahead of its time, of the artistic vision of the coming millennium through their monumental scope. Now that its entire unfolding is within our collective memory, Jean Dewasne's career seems to have been driven by a fundamental and persistent question: 'How can abstract art evolve?'"
Excerpt from a text by Patrice Deparpe,
curator of the exhibition at the Matisse Museum

The 'Antisculptures' series was named by the artist in reference to his research on flat painting applied to curved forms. Initially, Jean Dewasne used car and truck bodies, and later, as in this work, motorcycle fairings. The number of works featuring motorcycle fairings is quite small; we have identified approximately ten.