Mathieu Mercier: Everything But The Kitchen Sink

Higher level objects

Lamps, furniture, bicycles, typographies, museum plinths - the work of Mathieu Mercier, the winner of the Prix Marcel Duchamp (2003), who was born in Conflans-Saint-Honorine in 1970 and lives in Paris, moves confidently between art and everyday culture. In doing so, he repeatedly draws on the work of his heroes Marcel Duchamp and Piet Mondrian. However, Mathieu Mercier does not want to create inaccessible art, but works that are "immediately descriptive and appealing". The banal everyday objects that he stages are indeed simply beautiful at first. In this respect, Mercier speaks of "sublimation", of a refinement process that takes the objects to a higher level. This targeted delocalisation, the permanent exchange between high and low, raises the question of the status of things between functionality and artistic freedom of purpose. In this way, Mathieu Mercier skilfully reflects the concepts of 20th century Western culture in the field of tension between modern architecture, design and fine art.

Exhibitions:
LOK Art Museum St. Gallen, 23/8 - 9/11/2014
Villa Merkel Esslingen, 13/12/2014 - 22/2/2015