ART AT LE BRISTOL CONTINUES...
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH FIAC, LE BRISTOL PARIS WILL EXHIBIT
COLOMBIAN ARTIST IVÀN ARGOTE,
FROM OCTOBER 19 TO NOVEMBER 20, 2016
Paris, September 6, 2016
True to our tradition as a dedicated patron of the arts, since 2012, Le Bristol Paris, one of the pearls of Oetker Collection, has hosted special events featuring some of the most significant contemporary artworks in collaboration with curator Florence Parot. Several times a year, internationally renowned artists are invited to exhibit their works in Le Bristol's garden and bar. Shielded from the bustle of the city, these stylish spaces offer an original setting to showcase sculpture, installations and video art.
FIAC, a major international art fair now in its 43rd year, is held under the majestic glass roof of the Grand Palais, bringing together modern and contemporary art, emerging artists, designers and the most prestigious galleries in the world representing thousands of artists. This year, Le Bristol Paris will collaborate with FIAC, inviting Colombian artist Iván Argote to install a series of original sculptures in our garden and screen his videos in Le Bar du Bristol.
Born in Bogotá, Colombia, in 1983, Iván Argote settled in Paris in 2006. His work explores human behavior, how people relate to their environment, and our inextricable links to history, tradition, art, politics and power. Argote creates public installations including video, photographs and sculpture. Public monuments and statuary are recurring themes in his work, which questions the mechanisms of power and authority. Argote explores the city as a place of transformation and virtuality. At Le Bristol, the artist will bring his personal take on the lion, a major icon of Paris's monumental statuary, drawing inspiration from figures found at the Place de la République, Place Denfert-Rochereau, the Tuileries gardens and Pont Alexandre III. The artist will install sculptures of these powerful felines in our garden, all specially designed for the occasion and fabricated from reconstituted white stone mounted on multicolored pedestals in oxidized copper, some gilded with gold leaf. Le Bar du Bristol will simultaneously showcase Argote's video piece Blind Kittens, an animation featuring three imperial lion statues from different periods and regions – the Medici in Florence, the Beijing's Forbidden City and Babylon in Mesopotamia. The lions are seen playing with balls, reminiscent of the popular kitten videos found on the Internet.
Iván Argote is represented by Galerie Perrotin (Paris, Hong Kong, Seoul, NYC).
Iván Argote Image:
Iván Argote, Blind Kittens, 2014
Video still, sound, color, 4’03”
Courtesy Galerie Perrotin, Paris
This exhibition is presented by Florence Parot, head of the Centre Pompidou's New Media collection since 2004, where she co-organized the exhibition "Vintage Video," which traveled to the ZKM in Karlsruhe, Germany, the Beirut Art Center, Lebanon, and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, in Seoul, South Korea. Currently working on her PhD in the history of performance art, Parot teaches at the Sandberg Instituut in Amsterdam. In early 2016, she founded Artist Placement to support artists and help them explore new domains and host exhibitions.
Le Bristol Paris
112 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré - 75008 Paris
Tel.: +33 1 53 43 43 00
