Anderson, Fortner, author.

Buveurs de quintessences / auteurs, Fortner Anderson, Caroline Andrieux, Thierry Davila = Drinkers of quintessences / authors: Fortner Anderson, Caroline Andrieux, Thierry Davila.

Montréal (Québec) Canada : Quartier Éphémère/Fonderie Darling, [2019]
©2019

108 pages : color illustrations ; 26 cm.

The title of this group exhibition, 'Drinkers of Quintessences', is taken from Charles Baudelaire's poem 'Loss of a Halo' in which the author relates the experience of an artist who inadvertently lost his distinctive attribute but ends up accommodating this loss quite well. He is freed from the pressure surrounding his status as a creator and can mix anonymously with the crowd. Inspired by this poem, Walter Benjamin declared that an entire generation of artists who seek to undo the straightjackets associated with creation and demystify art practice had lost their aura. Therefore, the artist's personality and expertise, as both subject and object, were challenged and the fundamental principles of art were shaken. With Marcel Duchamp and Kasimir Malevitch as precursors, this artistic attitude was built into a paradigm in the 1960s, when artists took position against the exaggerated expressivity then holding sway by seeking to subtract as much content as possible from their works and leave their egos aside. Artists such as Agnes Martin, Yoko Ono, Robert Barry, and Gordon Matta-Clark, became fascinated by the infinite; through the notion of the void, they merged in their practices a critical point of view and a search for the absolute. This exhibition brings together artists whose work is driven by such a search for aesthetic experience. Including Quebec, Canadian, and international artists in order to show that this is still an important phenomenon on a wide scale, 'Drinkers of Quintessences' takes a look at contemporary creation and takes position against the 'society of the spectacle', and the equation of art with simple visual effects. Minimal, apparently empty of content, ephemeral and furtive, implying that the artist has not 'worked' enough, or is not personal enough, these artworks question their own status and embody a quest for the infinite. They ask the viewers to react beyond the gaze, and force them to reconsider the fundamental definition of art. -- Fonderie Darling [https://fonderiedarling.org/en/drinkers-of-quintessences.html].

9782980570353
2980570354

Art, Canadian 21st century Exhibitions.
Art, European 21st century Exhibitions.
Emptiness (Philosophy) in art.
Art canadien 21e siècle Expositions.
Art européen 21e siècle Expositions.
Vide (Philosophie) dans l'art.
Art, Canadian.
Art, European.

Exhibition catalogs.

Andrieux, Caroline, 1963- author.
Davila, Thierry, author.
Fonderie Darling (Gallery), host institution.
Casino Luxembourg, host institution.

Drinkers of quintessences

Location: Library main 307484
Call No.: BIB 252960
Status: Available