EgoNews-Living the Moment
(Diplomatic Art, Galeriile Bastionului Theresa, 12.11-12.12.2015)
by Adrian Ioniță
translated by Andrei-Radu Bîrsan [MTTLC]
click pentru versiunea română
Julien GARDAIR is the prototype of an artist globetrotter who does not waste time in one place. It seems that he has the metabolism of a man in contact with the vibration of the planet. His story makes you keep the fingers crossed to escape the imminence of a future or unfolding disaster. Like many artists with a keen sense of the moment, Julien is constantly in the middle of things. How does he manage to do that is hard to explain. Take for example his trip to Timisoara, which, since leaving New York, was marked by personal and dramatic collective events. While taking off from JFK airport in New York he receives the news of a tornado that destroyed his in-laws house, and once in Paris he found himself in the eye of the disaster at Bataclan.
[foto credits: Jody Rogac, nuvo magazine]
Born in France in 1976, Julien GARDAIR was educated at the Ecole Nationale d’Arts de Paris-Cergy, and, after a period of attempts to find his identity and artistic way he decides to go to New York. The decision seems to have been helped by the fact that, at the time, the art scene in Europe made him feel unfit. The last exhibitions of Julien, including this one to Timisoara, were organized by very clever curators who sensed his artistic potential and made possible for him to come back with a different attitude. Among them I mention Kristin Sancken and Mary Garis and Sophie Hahn, the directors of Garis & Hahn Gallery from New York who are promoting artists with a powerful narrative and the capacity to intercourse with an audience from various social backgrounds. Julien’s talent lies precisely in his ability to absorb and process unfolding life evens.
His installation at the Theresa Bastion Galleries is made up of a video montage with clippings from Paris Match covering the tragic events from Paris. The montage left me the impression of a static collage but slowly and slowly I discovered that the images change imperceptibly to provide unexpected details and forcing the viewer to mentally reconstruct the thread of ideas incorporated in it. Filmed as an open e-book, they resemble a Rorchard Test that invites personal interpretations and becomes a subliminal challenge to confront us with our own emotions and reactions facing the events unraveling in the front of our eyes. Now, in this moment, not tomorrow or some other day when is too late.
The DIPLOMATIC ART project presents and promotes professional visual artists from countries that have General and Honorary Consulates in Timisoara/Romania. The Show is open between November 12 – December 12 , at Muzeul Banatului, Bastionul Theresia, Timisoara, Romania
More about Julien GARDAIR at: http://juliengardair.com/
[November 13th, video 13mn, video stills, Julien Gardair 2015]
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