 Matthieu Laurette Let's Make Lots of Money Blow de la Barra is honoured to present the first solo show in London of Matthieu Laurette: "Let's Make Lots of Money". Taken from a 1984 Pet Shop Boys song, "Opportunities" (Let's Make Lot's of Money), the exhibition title is also that of a contractual work within the show. The work presents an opportunity to the spectator to take part in the economic transactions that form part of the art world. By using the title of a pop song to name his exhibition Laurette makes evident the themes that are at the core of his research: the examination of the relationships existing between art, media, "Spectacle", celebrity and economy. In one of his best-known projects, "Money-Back Products" (1993-2001), Laurette survived for free for almost a decade by obtaining refunds from the money back guarantees of the products he bought. This and other projects in which he infiltrated TV shows, have earned him a talk show celebrity status; he continuously uses and intervenes in the mass media as part of his practice. In London, Laurette is better known for two projects. In 2003 at the ICA, within the exhibition "Publicness", he organised the fifth of his continuing series, "Déjà vu International Look-Alike Conventions", where he invites celebrity look-alikes to the exhibition opening night, to mix with the art-world crowd. In 2005 as part of the Frieze Art Fair Projects, curated by Polly Staple, Laurette presented "What Do They Wear At Frieze Art Fair?" where he invited fashion experts Isabella Blow, Peter Saville, Kira Jolliffe, and Bay Garnett, to lead guided tours of the fair, revealing with them the aura that art and fashion add not only to each other, but also to social and economic values. Works in the exhibition examine the symbolic values of art, money and "Spectacle". "Slapstick #1 (Money)" is a candid camera video where 5¤ bills placed on the floor of the Centre Pompidou wait to be picked up by unsuspecting museum visitors. A work by Joseph Beuys, in which he wrote "Kunst=Kapital" upon a series of bills, is developed by Laurette, with equation "Art = Capital = Spectacle" written on GB sterling bills. These are then offered to gallery visitors in exchange for the face value of the bill, with the hope that the value of this bill, now an art work, will multiply in the future. In other pieces, Laurette's own artistic career becomes the subject of the art work: in "Patchwork in Progress - Monographic Show (Selected Works Remaining For Sale)", and in "Selected Works Currently On Display Elsewhere" he presents a selection of his available production up to the present. "Untitled (World Map)" presents a geographical mapping of the cities in which Laurette has exhibited until now. Born in France in 1970, Matthieu Laurette lives and works in Paris. His work has been exhibited internationally in key exhibitions including "Notre Histoire", Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2006); "Populism", curated by Lars Bang Larsen, Cristina Ricupero and Nicholaus Schafhausen, in Vilnius, Oslo, Frankfurt, and Amsterdam (2005); "Superstars: Celebrity Factor in Art from Warhol to Madonna", Kunsthalle & Kunstforum, Vienna (2005); "Publicness", with Jens Haaning and Aleksandra Mir, ICA, London (2003); and the 49th Venice Biennale curated by Harald Szeemann (2001). Laurette's solo exhibitions include "The Today Show", Galerie Yvon Lambert, Paris (2005); MNAM-Centre Pompidou, Paris (2004) after winning the prestigious Prix Ricard for the most representative artist under 40 in the French scene; "El Gran Trueque", Consonni, Bilbao (2000); and "Applaus", Casco Projects, Utrecht (1998). Exhibition: 1 April - 27 Mai 2006 Gallery hours: Tues- Sat 11 am - 6 pm Blow de la Barra 35 Heddon Street GB-London W1B 4BP Telephone +44 20 7734 7477 Email info@blowdelabarra.com www.blowdelabarra.com |
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