Entrelacs
Victor Man invites Navid Nuur

From May 18 till September 15, 2018
Opening Thursday May 17, 2018 from 6 PM to 9 PM (Common openings of the Quartier des Bains)

For his exhibition at the CEC, Victor Man invites Navid Nuur not so much to create a common work but rather to establish a dialog and to underline a certain kinship between their artistic practices: their use of traditional and handcrafted techniques – watercolour for the one and ceramics for the other -, their common references to materials that bear strong symbolic and poetic meaning – minerals, water, fire -, their personal and artistic background, but also their ties to childhood, to memory and perhaps to nostalgia. A shared way of revisiting the significant initiatory stages that rendered this duo possible and natural, offering an installation alternating the watercolours of Victor Man and the ceramics of Navid Nuur.

This duo exhibition represents the last step of the collaboration that the CEC undertook with Victor Man since 2014 and that started with the edition of an object, a sailor’s knife. An element already present in some of his paintings and that are significant of the themes that cross his work; the fragmented, erotised and fetishized body. We can imagine in the background of his images some mysterious and esoteric rituals from which symbolic clues emerge: psychoanalyses and even mysticism flirt with surrealism, animism and occultism. A dark, surreal and phantasmagorical atmosphere suggests violence and an implicit threat which is emphasised by a seemingly classical pictorial style, often virtuoso, thus intensifying the allegorical charge of the represented subjects; parts of the body, pale faces, objects, animals or emblematic plants: masks, skulls, pearls, gloves, snakes, flowers. A sustained tension emanates from the work of Man both through the strangeness of the subjects and the evocation of situations, often nocturnal, enclosed, suggesting sexually sophisticated scenes. The feeling of anxiousness, the romantic, sensual and erotic profundity that qualify his paintings are executed in dark colours, dense black mix with deep shades of green or blue, suggesting the deepness of the sea and contrasting with flashes of milky glowing white. Cast shadows on the objects, figures and interior scenes express an enclosed and timeless universe. Intimate scenes are handled in details, figures are presented in close-up, the restrained position of the bodies, wrapped in an enigmatic atmosphere and the reserved and troubling eroticism evoke Man Ray, Pierre Klossowski, Meret Oppenheim or Pierre Molinier. For that matter, the pictorial references of Man are rather located in the Pre-Rennaissance and Renaissance period in Italy. He refers to paintings such as The Flagellation of Christ attributed to Pietro di Giovanni d’Ambrogio or The Madonna del Parto by Piero della Francesca. Other, more contemporary and literary references can be evoked like Madame Edwarda by Georges Bataille, La nouvelle rêvée by Arthur Schnitzler or even Étant donnés or La mariée mise à nu par ses célibataires, même by Marcel Duchamp, which suggest a more fantasmatic immersion where objects – clothes, accessories and furniture – convoke the mysteries of desire, fantasy, of manipulation and fear. His paintings are filled with ambiguous, androgynous figures, beyond gender, half animal, half human, oscillating between sacred and profane. The subjects seem to be absorbed in an abyss, a source of glossy and lunar light set on bodies that proliferate in a liquid or gas state, and which appears to light up the subject from within. This play enhanced between shadow and light make the materiality of painting disappear. A painting of incarnated bodies with a disembodied painting process.

Although Man’s paintings seems to plunge the bodies into dense and abyssal depths, this maritime metaphor reminds us of the sailor’s knife that we edited in 2014 and evokes the new series of watercolours that will be presented at the CEC. For his exhibition Victor Man invites Navid Nuur, for these two artists discovered their shared preference for natural, symbolic and poetic materials – water, minerals – that they both have experimented recently: watercolour for Man and ceramics for Nuur.

For Victor Man, the memory of his first watercolour realized as a child remains a nodal point in his work. This initial canvas remains emblematic for the artist and expresses the perfection and the ideal that he is still in search of. Man tempts to grasp a memory shape from this first watercolour, in the aqueous matter of the colour, a perfect expression for him probably of the mysticism of painting and the magic of its power of transformation.

As for Navid Nuur, he has recently initiated the production of some ceramics. The technique used blends strong materials composed by minerals: clay, sand, salt or palm tree ashes and shells found on beaches, to which Nuur adds aquarelle colours, which are also mineral. All is heated up to 1250 degree Celsius, the extreme temperature that enables to produce stoneware, literally “objects of stone”. This mineral and organic blending gives immediately to Nuur’s ceramics a raw, fossilised and stony appearance and at times a liquid and immaterial transparency due to vitrification. His ceramics testifies of the history of the techniques and the intrinsic strength of transformation of materials.

Navid Nuur relies on the modesty and the natural side of manual and artisanal production processes: ceramics, weaving, tapestry, graphite on paper … or even a recent series of paintings done with acrylic mixed with vitamin D, a blend that gives rise to metaphorical interpretations: ultraviolet rays enhance the production of vitamin D as well as bone mineralization. Others are realized with Ecoline, a kind of liquid ink-watercolour that Nuur dilutes with water during 24 hours by dripping. These drippings seem to dye the canvas from within, masking the process of manufacturing. These two examples of fabrication, between craft technique and do-it-yourself, perceptible or sometimes more hidden, brings Nuur’s research on the process of modification close to that of an alchemist. Victor Man’s and Navid Nuur’s interests converge probably in their fascination for the magic of transformation, between secret of production and power of creation.

 

Victor Man
Childhood Drawings for Rózsa
Artist’s book, offset, 16,2 × 23 cm, 128 pages, colour, cover with a book jacket, two colours, reproduction of several children’s sketchbooks and the publication of a letter by Victor Man « My dear Rózsa », English, 500 copies. Graphic design: NORM, Zurich. Print: DZA Druckerei zu Altenburg, Altenburg. Edition of the Centre d’édition contemporaine, Geneva, 2018.
ISBN 978-2-9701174-7-6

Victor Man’s artist’s book Childhood Drawings for Rózsa published by the CEC reproduces short comics made as a child. Victor Man proposes a selection and reframing of the pages of his old and carefully conserved notebooks, in collaboration with Manuel Krebs, graphic designer of the office NORM, Zurich. Not precisely a facsimile, but rather a reinterpretation or a kind of personal readymade, these comics tell the tales of some heroes uncannily resembling Arthur, Batman or Tarzan. In reality, Victor Man reinvented or reproduced from memory the heroic figures of the rare Western magazines – Pif Gadget and other journals for children – which he could only have access to sporadically and often “under the counter” in Communist Romania of the late 1970s and early 1980s. His drawings and small stories carry this double naivety, that of childhood and also that of a fantasy for a mysterious and inaccessible universe.

 

Victor Man is born in 1974 in Cluj and lives and works between Berlin, Cluj and Rome
Personnals exhibitions : Galerie Neu, Berlin (2016) ; Gladstone Gallery, New York (2015) ; Haus der Kunst, Munich (2014), Deutsche Bank KunstHalle, Berlin (2014) ; Villa Medicis (2013) ; MUDAM, Luxemburg (2012) ; Blum & Poe, Los Angeles (2012). Collectives exhibitions : Kunsthalle Lingen, Lingen (2018) ; S.M.A.K., Ghent (2016) ; The Warehouse, Dallas, Texas (2016) ; 56th Biennial of Venice (2015); La triennale, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2012) ; SFMOMA, Museum of Modern Art San Francisco, San Francisco (2012)
Navid Nuur is born in Téhéran, Iran in 1976, he lives and works in The Haye.
Personnals exhibitions: Galeria Plan B, Berlin (2018); Be-Part, Platform voor Actuele Kunst, Waregem (2017); Bonnefanten Museum, Maastricht (2013); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2013). Collectives exhibitions: Marta Herford Museum, Herford (2018); CoBrA Museum of Modern Art, Amstelveen (2017); MUDAM, Luxemburg (2016); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2016), Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (2015); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2012)
The edition Victor Man, Childhood Drawings for Rózsa is supported by the Leenaards Foundation, Lausanne.
The CEC thanks Galeria Plan B for its help for the exhibition Entrelacs, Victor Man invites Navid Nuur.
The CEC is supported by the Département de la culture et du sport de la Ville de Genève, the Loterie Romande, the Ernst & Olga Gubler-Hablützel Foundation and a private Genevan foundation.

Artistes

Exhibitions

2024
Mini VOLUMES 2024 – Summer Edition
Denis Savary
Quiet Clubbing
John Armleder
ENCORE TROP
P.A.G.E.S. 2024
Caroline Schattling Villeval
Carences et toute-puissance
2023
VOLUMES – Art Publishing Days 2023
Gina Folly
Dolce Vita
Book launch, Paradis
Presentation evening “Before publications”
RM
SOLO TÚ
Videos: new and revisited
artgenève 2023
Editions and Before publications
2022
Liz Craft
Ms. America

L’esprit d’escalier
Paul Bernard
“Guy would never have done that.” Debord Curator
I Never Read, Art Book Fair Basel 2022
Paris Ass Book Fair 2022
Mai-Thu Perret
My sister’s hand in mine
artgenève 2022
Before et publications
2021
Marie Angeletti
Ram
Paul Viaccoz
ESPRIT ES-TU LÀ ?

Bridge the gap
Guillaume Dénervaud
Surv’Eye
Printed Matter’s Virtual Art Book Fair 2021
2020
Paul Paillet
Fascination for fire
Metallica
artgenève 2020
Fabian Marti
Such a Good Girl
2019
P.A.G.E.S. 2019
Open accrochage, editions
of
TIMOTHÉE CALAME
ALTERA
LA Art Book Fair 2019
Spring Sale Time
artgenève 2019
ground
Matthew Lutz-Kinoy
What to wear to a concert? Tips for concert outfits: wear your best punk jacket with the right patches ! “A patch meant to be fixed to the back of your jacket depicting relevant cultural affiliations”
2018
Matthew Lutz-Kinoy
The Meadow
Salon MAD#4 (Multiple Art Days)
Paris 2018
Entrelacs
Victor Man invites Navid Nuur
Valentin Carron, Marc Camille Chaimowicz, François Curlet…
artgenève 2018
Keren Cytter
2017
Jonathan Monk
Directional Advice
Thomas Hirschhorn
Flashforward
Edited by the CEC!
Focus: Mélanie Matranga
Jean-Michel Wicker
#picturebook1
Book Launch c/o Section 7 Books, Paris
Jean-Michel Wicker
#picturebook1
Book Launch c/o SALTS, Birsfelden/Basel
Presentation of the edition
Jean-Michel Wicker
#picturebook1
Jakob Kolding
The Outside or the Inside of the Internalised Externalised
Jean-Michel Wicker
BBiblioteca ffanafffantastica
artgenève 2017
Inside the Bubble-Booth
Presentation of the edition
Jean-Michel Wicker
Belle étiquette
2016
Presentation of the book
Mathis Gasser
In the Museum 1 2 (3),
Regulators 1 2 n
Presentation of the edition
Artists’ Voices
Valentin Carron
Deux épaisseurs un coin
Mathis Gasser
Sept sont tombés vers le ciel
Works on paper
artgenève 2016
2015
Artists’ Voices
Prolongation
Artists’ Voices
Extract
I Never Read, Art Book Fair Basel 2015
Jason Dodge
David Maljkovic
with
Konstantin Grcic
Negatives
artgenève 2015
2014
WINTER SALE
AND
ALPHABET EDITIONS
Raphaël Julliard
Chromozone
Oriol Vilanova
Renoncer à te décrire
artgenève 2014 FILMS – CORRIDOR
2013
Artissima 2013
Edited!
NY Art Book Fair 2013
David Hominal
Through The Windows
Jonathan Monk
Egg
artgenève 2013
2012
Posters
Salon Light #9, Paris
NY Art Book Fair 2012
Oscar Tuazon
Salon des Dames
artgenève 2012
Jeffrey Vallance
The Vallance Bible
Nouvelles éditions
Oscar Tuazon
Book Launch c/o Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zürich
2011
Aaron Flint Jamison
Philippe Decrauzat
Book Launch c/o Motto Zürich
Abstractions sentimentales et quelques éditions, Cneai, Paris
Philippe Decrauzat
NYSTAGMUS
Gerard Byrne
For example; a sketch of Five Elevations, 1971-72
Presentation of the book
Sgrafo vs Fat Lava
2010
Présentation de l’édition de Pierre Bismuth Something Less, Something More – DIY
Sgrafo vs Fat Lava
Céramiques et porcelaines Made in West Germany, 1960-1980
“Encadrées”
Susanne M. Winterling
They Called Each Other Horses
Changement d’accrochage: Heimo Zobernig
Fröhliche Gesellschaft,
Parrotta Contemporary Art, Stuttgart
2009
Editions vs. objets
Erik van Lieshout
The Assistant
T. Quelques possibilités de textes
EDITIONS (suite…)
Présentation du catalogue
L’Effet papillon, 1989-2007,
castillo/corrales, Paris
2008
EDITIONS (2004-2008)
Presentation of
L’Effet papillon, 1989-2007
at Maison de la poésie, Basel
Trisha Donnelly
L’Effet papillon, 1989-2007
Olivier Bardin
You belong to me I belong to you
2007
Editions récentes
Anne-Julie Raccoursier
Wireless World, BAC, Genève
Otra de Vaqueros (Redux), BAC, Genève
Habitat/Variations, BAC, Genève
Markus Schinwald, BAC, Genève
Andreas Dobler
In Deep Ink, BAC, Genève
2006
Gianni Motti
Perpetual Channel
The Missing Evidence
Accrochage des éditions 1995-2005
Marie Velardi
Futurs antérieurs, 20006
2005
Christophe Rey
Ocean Bluff
Quelques éditions…
No More Lights On My Starguitar
2004
Florian Pumhösl
Héliogravures et film
M/M (Paris)
Pour hoM/Me,
printemps-été 2004
Mai-Thu Perret
Love thy sister like thyself
Haroutioun Simonian
Performance (à huis clos) & installation vidéo
2003
Filière papier – Filière expo
Monica Bonvicini
Accrochage de l’édition
Eternmale
Finger No. 12
conventions/
Konventionen/
conventions
Jakob Kolding
Amy O’Neill et Emmanuel Piguet
Dm-melkenburg
2002
Karl Holmqvist
Soirée tropicale
Animation: Vidéos
Rosemarie Trockel
Edition, eaux-fortes, 1996
KIOSK (V)
Monica Bonvicini
Bonded Eternmale
2001
Affiches/Livres
Social Hackers
Editions
Fabrice Gygi
VITRINES et PITON UNIVERSEL
Vidya Gastaldon & Jean-Michel Wicker
2000
Editions 2000
Bring the Noise
Bourse du CGGC 1997-1999
1999
KLAT
Evil Talk: Beyond the pleasure principle
Thomas Hirschhorn
Elke Krystufek
In the Arms of Luck
Editions
1998
One Step Backwards: Books,
prints, videos, 1998
LISTE 98, The Young Art Fair,
Usine Warteck, Bâle
lithographs
1997
Elena Montesinos
Tune out, Turn off, Drop in
Multiples of the Centre genevois de gravure contemporaine
Eté 97
Stan Douglas
Photographies
Hinrich Sachs

B. Toguo Tamokoué
Gravures et Multiples
1996
Heimo Zobernig
Alexandre Bianchini,
Nicolás Fernández,
Jérôme Hentsch
et
Alain Julliard
Kristin Oppenheim
Rosemarie Trockel
1995
Thomas Hirschhorn
Les Plaintifs, les Bêtes, les Politiques
Karen Kilimnik
Tiger
Editions of the Centre genevois de gravure contemporaine
Luc Tuymans
Le Verdict
Estampes et photographies
Yves Gevaert éditeur, Bruxelles
1994
Olivier Mosset
Claude Closky
Alexandre Bianchini

Hubert Mean
Alex Hanimann
Peintures, édition
1993
Giuseppe Penone
Images de pierres
Sigurdur Arni Sigurdsson
Peintures, dessins
Gerry Schum
Fernseh und Videogalerie
John M Armleder
Ian Anüll
Dessins, sérigraphies et éditions
Claude Gaçon
1992
Éditions, 1986-1992
John M Armleder
Parkett
Jean Stern
Panini alle melanzane
Stephan Landry
Marie Sacconi
1991
Laurence Pittet
Suzanne Lafont
Photographies
Marcel Broodthaers
Œuvres graphiques, 1964-1975
Jean-Michel Othoniel
¡ Capotes !
1990
Roman Signer
Installation hélicoptère, 1990
Jean-Marc Meunier
Sapins de Noël, 1988-1989
Anne Pesce
Pêcheur, c’est lui qui devient un poisson
Andreas Hofer
Installation – édition
1989
Emmett Williams
Multiples
Henri Michaux
Encres, gouaches, aquarelles, lavis
Andreas Gursky
Photographies
Stéphane Brunner
1988
Mori Shigeru
Estampes