pierre bismuth - Christine König Galerie

pierre bismuth - Christine König Galerie

PIERRE BISMUTH
PIERRE BISMUTH
Geboren 1963 in Paris, lebt und arbeitet in Brüssel.
Pierre Bismuth setzt seine künstlerische Arbeit als Mittel ein, um unsere Wahrnehmung der Realität sowie unsere Beziehung zur Kultur und deren Produktion
zu sensibilisieren. Allen seinen Arbeiten liegt immer dasselbe zugrunde: sie sollen vorgeformte Codes der Wahrnehmung verunsichern. Er zwingt den Betrachter, oft
in sehr humorvoller und unterhaltsamer Weise, kritisch und aufmerksam zu werden, auch bei der Konfrontation mit Objekten unserer Zivilisation, mit Kulturleistungen,
deren Bedeutung scheinbar ganz offensichtlich ist.
Born 1963 in Paris, lives and works in Brussels.
The artist employs artistic practice as a tool for examining our perception of reality as well as our relation to culture and it’s productions. The underlying aim of
his works is always the same - to destabilize pre-established codes of perception and to push the viewer to become critical and incredulous even when presented
with cultural objects whose meaning appears self-evident.
PIERRE BISMUTH
Diverse Arbeiten 2013 / various works 2013
C-Print auf Plexiglas/Diasec, Leuchtkasten mit LED Beleuchtung / C-print on plexiglass/diasec, lightbox with LED lights
Die Fotografien von Wüstenlandschaften, gekennzeichnet mit dem Logo des Urhebers oder der Bilddatenbank, verstehen sich als Beitrag
zur Copyright/Copyleft-Debatte: Unbrauchbar im Sinne einer kommerziellen Ausbeutung gewinnen die Bilder als Kunstwerke einen
Sekundärwert. Wobei Pierre Bismuth vor allem jenes Paradoxon auskostet, dass Kunstwerke erst durch die Unterschrift des Schöpfers ihren
Wert und ihre Bedeutung zugemessen bekommen, während die digitale Signatur den Wert eines Fotos zerstört.
The photographs of desert landscapes, each marked with the logo of ownership of the image, should be understood as a contribution to the
copyright/copyleft debate: obliterated by the presence of the intrusive copyright logo that should make them unusable, theses pictures
nonetheless attain a secondary value as artworks. The strategies developed to protect ownership are here used precisely to open up
possibilities for free access. Pierre Bismuth savors the fact that in the digital context of unrestricted production and access to images the
notion of property has become a paradox.
Ausstellungsansicht / exhibition view PIERRE BISMUTH Liquids and Gels
PIERRE BISMUTH
Dylan Garcia, 2013
C-Print auf Plexiglas/Diasec, Leuchtkasten mit LED Beleuchtung / C-print on plexiglass/diasec, lightbox with LED lights
Foto / photo 39,7 x 50,9 cm, Rahmen / frame 40,4 x 60,6 cm
Unikat / unique work + 1 a.p.
PIERRE BISMUTH
Deposit photos, 2013
C-Print auf Plexiglas/Diasec, Leuchtkasten mit LED Beleuchtung / C-print on plexiglass/diasec, lightbox with LED lights
Foto / photo 33,3 x 50 cm, Rahmen / frame 34 x 50,5 cm
Unikat / unique work + 1 a.p.
PIERRE BISMUTH
Shutterstock, 2013
C-Print auf Plexiglas/Diasec, Leuchtkasten mit LED Beleuchtung / C-print on plexiglass/diasec, lightbox with LED lights
Foto / photo 23,2 x 34,8 cm, Rahmen / frame 23,8 x 35,6 cm
Unikat / unique work + 1 a.p.
PIERRE BISMUTH
fotolia, 2013
C-Print auf Plexiglas/Diasec, Leuchtkasten mit LED Beleuchtung / C-print on plexiglass/diasec, lightbox with LED lights
Foto / photo 23,2 x 34,8 cm, Rahmen / frame 23,8 x 35,6 cm
Unikat / unique work + 1 a.p.
PIERRE BISMUTH
ClipDealer, 2013
C-Print auf Plexiglas/Diasec, Leuchtkasten mit LED Beleuchtung / C-print on plexiglass/diasec, lightbox with LED lights
Foto / photo 50,7 x 89,8 cm, Rahmen / frame 51,4 x 90,6 cm
Unikat / unique work + 1 a.p.
PIERRE BISMUTH
freedom can be rescued from any closed system, 2011
Pierre Bismuth’s work explores the multiple manifestations and products of knowledge and culture. By means of simple
accumulation - an excess of material, of translations, of possibilities - the artist challenges any logic of efficiency and
usefulness. His works are metaphors of human activity, proliferating and polluting until the logic and the energy of the system
that engenders them is exhausted. Bismuth’s work manages to find the means for an effective transformation and is ultimately
able to formulate a promise: no matter how structured and limited human activity and creativity are, freedom can be rescued
from any closed system.
PIERRE BISMUTH
freedom can be rescued from any closed system - the complete series (unique), 2011
Gouache auf Papier / gouache on paper
Installation ca 1,5 x 5 m, je / each 39 x 49 cm, gerahmt / framed 40 x 50 cm
36-teilig / 36 parts
PIERRE BISMUTH
freedom can be rescued from any closed system - section 2 (unique), 2011
Gouache auf Papier / gouache on paper
39 x 49 cm, gerahmt / framed 40 x 50 cm
Ausstellungsansicht / exhibition view PIERRE BISMUTH Liquids and Gels
PIERRE BISMUTH
Liquids and Gels, 2013
9 Glasbehälter, Sockel, Haargel, Duschgel, Alkohol, Wasser / 9 glass recipients, plinth, hair gel, shower gel, alcohol, water
Maße variabel / dimensions variable
Unikat / unique
PIERRE BISMUTH
Following the Right Hand of Sigmund Freud, 2013
black ink on Japan paper
each 66,5 x 97 cm + frame
Following the Right Hand of Sigmund Freud was made from amateur footage shot between 1931 and 1937.
The footage was to be shown only within the psychoanalytic community before his daughter Anna’s death in 1982.
Some scenes were filmed at Freud’s summer home in Pötzleinsdorf, a suburb of Vienna, with his friend!Emanuel Löwy, an archaeologist,
others on a trip to Paris and in his London residence.
Following the Right Hand of Sigmund Freud is part of Pierre Bismuth's famous series Following the Right Hand of... . Since 1999, Bismuth
follows the right hand of well-known actresses, thus revealing the abstract drawings they unconsciously produce. It is precisely this idea of
the Unconscious that Bismuth addresses here in a very direct way, by choosing Sigmund Freud as the subject of the drawings.
Ausstellungsansicht / exhibition view PIERRE BISMUTH Liquids and Gels
Following the Right Hand of Sigmund Freud, 2013
PIERRE BISMUTH
Following the Right Hand of Sigmund Freud, 2013
schwarze Tusche auf Japanpapier / black ink on Japan paper
64 x 96,5 cm, gerahmt / framed
PIERRE BISMUTH
Following the Right Hand of Sigmund Freud, 2013
schwarze Tusche auf Japanpapier / black ink on Japan paper
64 x 96,6 cm, gerahmt / framed
PIERRE BISMUTH
Following the Right Hand of Sigmund Freud, 2013
schwarze Tusche auf Japanpapier / black ink on Japan paper
64 x 96,5 cm, gerahmt / framed
Something Less Something More
Something Less Something More is part of a series with the same name considering the creative act as a mere expenditure and the work as
the emblematic product of an activity which has no other aim than the activity itself.
Something Less Something More is made out of light partitions in which circles were cut out to eliminate as much material as possible. The
circles taken out of the surface of the wall accumulate as material which in turn will occupy the surface of the floor.
Each of the two elements presented being potentially the residual of the other, the work poses the question of judgment and the impossibility
to estimate the legitimacy of a phenomenon outside the context which produced it.
As the rest of the work by Pierre Bismuth, these pieces are primarily the remainders of an operation and the final form of the work essentially
derives from the logic of its implementation.
PIERRE BISMUTH
Something Less Something More, 2010
Ausstellungsansicht / installation view, Centre Pompidou Metz
PIERRE BISMUTH
Something Less Something More, 2004
Ausstellungsansicht / installation view Christine König Galerie
Holz, Farbe / wood and paint
Größe variabel / dimensions variable
PIERRE BISMUTH
Something Less Something More,
installation view Christine König Galerie, 2004
Installation in 2 Räumen / installation enclosing 2 rooms
Holz und Farbe / wood and paint
Größe variabel / dimensions variable
Ansicht mit Scheiben am Boden /
view with discs on floor
PIERRE BISMUTH
Something Less Something More - Canvas, 2010
schwarze Acrylfarbe auf Leinwand / black acrylic paint on canvas
150 x 100 cm / 100 x 150 cm, 15 Löcher/holes: je/each d 27,5 cm,
15 lose Scheiben/left over disks: je/each d 27,5 cm
PIERRE BISMUTH
Something Less Something More - Canvas, 2007
Acryl auf Leinwand / acrylic paint on canvas
30 x 24 cm, gerahmt ca. / framed approx. 60 x 45 cm
10 Löcher / holes: je / each ca d 6 cm,
10 lose Scheiben/left over disks: je /each approx. d 6 cm
Unikat / unique work
Black Paintings
In formal terms Pierre Bismuth’s work is often based on appropriation and misappropriation. He is interested in phenomena of understanding and issues
related to the production of meaning and value.
Continuing his work on the (mis)appropriation of Walt Disney’s Jungle Book where he created a Babylonian, incomprehensible version of the cartoon,
giving each of the characters a different idiom, Bismuth here one more time takes on Disney Studio products. The Black Paintings (2005-2008)
actually use ‚Disney figures‘ taken from children’s coloring books. Whereas in the coloring books the various parts of the drawing should be covered
with different colors, Bismuth, after having enlarged the motif on the canvas surface, is simply filling the surfaces with one single color: black. Adhering
closely to the contours of the drawing, the brushstrokes effectively reflect the artist’s method, allowing the ghost of the original image to more or less
shimmer through. The tedious painting takes place almost mechanically; the untouched surfaces still delimited by single black lines, are gradually filled
with paint, finally resulting in a black monochrom.
PIERRE BISMUTH
Piglet the Draftsman, 2007
Inkjet und Acryl auf Leinwand /
Inkjet and acrylic paint on canvas
317,5 x 246,4 cm
PIERRE BISMUTH
The Sleeping Beauty, 2008
Inkjet und Acryl auf Leinwand /
inkjet and acrylic paint on canvas
155 x 130 cm
PIERRE BISMUTH
Malefic, 2008
Inkjet und Acryl auf Leinwand /
inkjet and acrylic paint on canvas
85 x 79 cm
PIERRE BISMUTH
Collages for men / The Emirates series, 2008
Collages for men / The Gulf series, 2008
collage on cardboard
In 2001 Pierre Bismuth started the series Collages for men. He covered images of naked women taken from men’s magazines with white
paper silhouettes as outfits.
Collages for men - The Emirates and Gulf series: A white paper sheet covers a pornographic image, only a rectangular cut-out shows
the eyes of a woman.
To remove the white sheet would mean the destruction of the artwork, the observer is suspended in constant curiosity.
PIERRE BISMUTH
Collage for men / The Gulf series - Eva, 2008
Collage auf Karton / collage on cardboard
115 x 89 cm
Künstlerrahmung / artist frame 133 x 105 cm
PIERRE BISMUTH
empty...full, 2004
wallwork with synonyma from the word empty to the word full
Grösse variabel / dimensions variable
PIERRE BISMUTH
preparatory drawing for translation piece, 2004
Filzstift auf Papier, Print / feltpen on paper, print
29,7 x 21 cm, gerahmt / framed
PIERRE BISMUTH
War, tourism and intergration, 2004
wall work
Grösse variabel / dimensions variable
The Jungle Book Project
Pierre Bismuth, der sich mit Sprache, Verstehen und den methodischen Voraussetzungen bildlichen Ausdrucks beschäftigt, verändert die Tonspur des Dschungelbuchs.
Bismuth ordnet jeder der handelnden Personen des bekannten Walt-Disney-Films eine andere Sprache zu. Die babylonische Sprachverwirrung bringt die Handlung dennoch
nicht zum Scheitern, vielmehr befördert sie in amüsanter Weise assoziative Zuordnungen, nationale Klischees und die Differenzen von Stimme und persönlichem Ausdruck zu
Tage. (zit. Thomas Trummer)
Seit jeher fasziniert mich, dass Kinder für Tage, Wochen oder Monate dasselbe Video oder dieselbe Schallplatte immer und immer wieder ansehen beziehungsweise anhören
können. Als ich im Dezember 2001 nach einem Geschenk für mein Patenkind Ausschau hielt, wollte ich sehen, ob das Dschungelbuch sie aus ihrer schon einige Monate
anhaltenden Begeisterung für “Pooh der Bär“ reißen könnte. Die Idee war, nicht nur eine einzige Version, sondern drei oder vier zu kaufen: holländisch, englisch, spanisch,
italienisch, etc. Ich wollte sehen, wie ein 18-Monate-altes Baby reagieren würde, wenn es dieselbe Sache sehen, jedoch immer etwas anderes hören würde. Bevor ich ihr
allerdings die Bänder zuschickte, hörte ich mir all die synchronisierten Versionen an und war fasziniert von dieser Erfahrung, so dass ich jeder Figur in ein und demselben
Film eine unterschiedliche Sprache geben wollte. (Pierre Bismuth)
Begleitend zum Film, den Pierre Bismuth als Heimkino für Kinder inszeniert, mit Teppich, Kopfhörern und bequemen Kopfkissen, zeigt er eine Aufschlüsselung der
sprachlichen Zuordnung. In dieser Bildlegende, die ein wenig an jene Kaderzeichnungen erinnern, mit denen solche Filme hergestellt werden, verbinden sich absichtsvoll
nationale Klischees mit den Charakteren der dargestellten Figuren. Unter anderem sprechen die beiden wichtigsten Gegenspieler der Disneystory, der Bär Balu und der
Panther Pagira, hebräisch und arabisch.
Mit jeder verkauften Edition (Ed. 19) variieren die nächsten 19 Originalzeichnungen leicht, entsprechend den Bewegungen der Charaktere im Film.
--French artist Pierre Bismuth, whose work involves language, understanding and the methodic premises of visual expression, has altered the soundtrack of The Jungle Book.
Bismuth assigns every character of the well-known Walt Disney film a different language. And yet this confusion of tongues is not able to torpedo the plot: amusingly, it
actually brings to light associative classifications, national clichés and discrepancies between voice and personal expression. (quot. Thomas Trummer)
“I have always been fascinated by how children can watch or listen to the same video or record again and again for days, weeks or months. When, in December 2001, I was
looking for a gift for my godchild, I wanted to find out if The Jungle Book could tear her interest away from Winnie the Pooh, which had held her enthralled for several
months. The idea was to buy not just one version, rather three or four: Dutch, English, Spanish, Italian etc. I wanted to see how an 18-month-old baby would react, when she
always saw the same thing, but heard something else. Before I sent the tapes, I listened to all of the dubbed versions, and I was so fascinated by this experience that I wanted
to have every character in a single film speak a different language.” (Pierre Bismuth)
Alongside the film, which Pierre Bismuth has set up in home cinema fashion for children - with rugs, headphones and comfortable cushions - the artist also shows a
breakdown of the languages assigned. In this legend, which is somewhat reminiscent of the frame drawings, which are used in creating such films, national clichés are
intentionally linked to the characters depicted. For example, the two most important antagonists of the Disney story, the bear Baloo and the panther Bagheera, speak Hebrew
and Arabic.
With every sold edition (Ed. 19), the next 19 original drawings vary slightly, according to the characters’ movements within the cartoon’s frames.
PIERRE BISMUTH
The Jungle Book Project, 2002
DVD, projiziert auf Plasma Screen, 19 ungerahmte Originalzeichnungen auf
dünnem Papier, blauer oder grüner Teppich und passende Polster /
DVD, to be projected on Plasma Screen, 19 original drawings of the
different characters on thin paper, blue or green carpet and cushions
Ed. 19
PIERRE BISMUTH
The Jungle Book Project, 2002
ORIGINALZEICHNUNGEN und VIDEOSTILLS
ORIGINAL DRAWINGS and VIDEO STILLS
PIERRE BISMUTH
Samurai Head, 2004 (unfolded)
David Hammons Ausstellungsplakat, Origami Technik /
David Hammons exhibition poster, origami technique
52 x 41,5 cm, Rahmen / frame 83 x 73 cm
PIERRE BISMUTH
Origami boxes: one thing made of another, one thing used as another, 2004
(Jasper Jones, Claude Monet, Gilbert & George, Wassilij Kandinsky, Gustav Klimt)
PIERRE BISMUTH
Les temps d’aujour d'hui (Haider, Hitler et les auteurs), 2000
Aus der Serie / from the series Replaced by the same
Collage, Zeitung / newspaper
Künstlerrahmung / artist frame
37,5 x 29 cm
PIERRE BISMUTH
Jasper Jones after Lawrence Weiner (one thing made...), 2003
Computerausdruck auf Papier /
computerprint on paper
30 x 21 cm
gerahmt / framed
PIERRE BISMUTH
Jasper Jones after Lawrence Weiner (something to be folded...), 2003
Computerausdruck auf Papier /
computerprint on paper
30 x 21 cm
gerahmt / framed