Philippe Favier - Le Grand Livre
With Le Grand Livre the artist has delivered an exceptional work, a monumental book with 23 pages some two meter wide.
For Bernard Chauveau Éditeur, the artist has delivered an exceptional work, a monumental book with pages some two meter wide. Each of the 24 pages offers a constellation of figures. Vanitas, death's heads and skeletons predominate, as is usual with him, the rest being populated with a thousand other figures, from improbable, obsolete machines to scattered pieces of our civilization.
In eight copies of the work, each page has been further enhanced and rectified by the artist himself; placing here a new figure, destroying another with gum arabic. Within this group, each is different from the next. This edition is a masterpiece, no doubt about it, and a turning point in the style of this artist.
Limited edition of eight; each book is unique. ISBN 9782915837452.
Exhibitions (selection):
Mamac, Nice (2009) - Villa Tamaris, La Seyne-sur-Mer (2009) - Château de Villeneuve, Vence (2006) - Musée de Grenoble (2006) - Musée d’Art Contemporain, Lyon (2004, 2005) - Musée Paul Dini, Villefranche-sur-Saône (2003) - Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris (2000) - Carré d’Art, Musée d’Art Contemporain de Nîmes (1999) - Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris (1996) - Musée d'Art Moderne, Saint-Étienne (1996) - Musée D'Art et d'Histoire, Genève (1995) - Musée d'Art Moderne, Ankara(1992) - Musée de la Cohue, Vannes (1990) - Musée du Dessin et de l'Estampe Originale, Gravelines (1986, 1990) - Centre Genevois de Gravure Contemporaine, Genève (1987) - Musée de l'Abbaye Sainte-Croix, les Sables d'Olonne (1986) - Musée Départemental de Rochechouart, Pavillon du Verdurier, Limoges (1986) - Villa Arson, Nice (1986) - Musée d'Art et d'Industrie, Saint-Étienne (1982)• Galerie Guy Bärtschi, Paris, Genève (1998, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2007) - Galerie Blum Helman, New York (1989, 1997, 1999) - Galerie Pierre Huber, Paris, Genève (1987, 1990, 1992) - Galerie La Hune Brenner, Paris (1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996) - Galerie Yvon Lambert, Paris (1987, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999).
| Reference | 9782915837452 |
| Size | 206 x 25 x 7 cm |
| ISBN | 9782915837452 |
| Edition | 8 copies |
| Justification | Each copie is handmade enhanced Numbered and Signed |
| Technique | 23 illustrations pages |
| Publication date | 2009 |
Favier (Philippe)
In Europe’s artistic scene, Philippe Favier is an example of a singular practice which has no real equivalent. Born in 1957, he has, since the 1980's, produced paintings where the motif becomes a simple ornamentation of a wider whole, without visible hierarchy and without any particular construction apart from the fact that it creates an off-camera, both physical and mental. There is in this artist, the idea that art should, above all, activate imagination. To achieve this he does not hesitate to introduce fascinating little figures, sometimes multiplied to infinity. Using the theme of vanities, death and skeletons, he fills his pages with ordinary but surprising objects that alternate with intriguing otherworld images. The important point for him, is that the book, the images, the story-path, are to be read and deciphered. The work is a synthesis between the pages full of crypto glyphs, and the page after-page succession of possible readings. Philippe Favier builds impossible works, without beginning, without end, without orientation, without any destination other than to lead us into unsuspected depths in our imagination. Time stretches, lengthens to infinity, takes different forms according to how we read.
