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Extended through February 28, 2015

Le Jardin Décomposé / Decomposed Garden

October 14, 2014–February 28, 2015
Le Bourget

Installation view Photo: Thomas Lannes

Installation view

Photo: Thomas Lannes

Installation view Photo: Thomas Lannes

Installation view

Photo: Thomas Lannes

Installation view Photo: Thomas Lannes

Installation view

Photo: Thomas Lannes

Installation view Photo: Thomas Lannes

Installation view

Photo: Thomas Lannes

Installation view Photo: Thomas Lannes

Installation view

Photo: Thomas Lannes

Installation view Photo: Thomas Lannes

Installation view

Photo: Thomas Lannes

Installation view Photo: Thomas Lannes

Installation view

Photo: Thomas Lannes

Works Exhibited

Chris Burden, Holmby Hills Light Folly, 2012 Mixed media, dimensions variable© Chris Burden/Licensed by The Chris Burden Estate and Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Chris Burden, Holmby Hills Light Folly, 2012

Mixed media, dimensions variable
© Chris Burden/Licensed by The Chris Burden Estate and Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Dan Colen, An Allegory of Faith, 2008 Oil on canvas, 84 × 124 inches (213.4 × 315 cm)© Dan Colen

Dan Colen, An Allegory of Faith, 2008

Oil on canvas, 84 × 124 inches (213.4 × 315 cm)
© Dan Colen

Michael Craig-Martin, Wheelbarrow (red), 2013 Powder-coated steel, 100 ⅜ × 192 ⅞ inches (255 × 490 cm), edition of 3

Michael Craig-Martin, Wheelbarrow (red), 2013

Powder-coated steel, 100 ⅜ × 192 ⅞ inches (255 × 490 cm), edition of 3

Urs Fischer, column one, 2014 Cast bronze, 74 × 25 × 24 inches (188 × 63.5 × 61 cm), edition of 2© Urs Fischer. Photo: Melissa Christy

Urs Fischer, column one, 2014

Cast bronze, 74 × 25 × 24 inches (188 × 63.5 × 61 cm), edition of 2
© Urs Fischer. Photo: Melissa Christy

Carsten Höller, Reindeer, 2008 Green Biresin, blue glass eyes, and horn, 3 ⅞ × 20 ½ × 11 inches (10 × 52 × 28 cm), edition of 5© Carsten Höller. Photo: Josh White

Carsten Höller, Reindeer, 2008

Green Biresin, blue glass eyes, and horn, 3 ⅞ × 20 ½ × 11 inches (10 × 52 × 28 cm), edition of 5
© Carsten Höller. Photo: Josh White

Jeff Koons, Waterfall Dots (Tree Rocks), 2008 Oil on canvas, 108 × 84 inches (274.3 × 213.4 cm)© Jeff Koons

Jeff Koons, Waterfall Dots (Tree Rocks), 2008

Oil on canvas, 108 × 84 inches (274.3 × 213.4 cm)
© Jeff Koons

Giuseppe Penone, Spazio di luce, 2008 Bronze and gold, 103 15/16 × 68 ½ × 49 3/16 inches (264 × 174 × 125 cm)© Giuseppe Penone

Giuseppe Penone, Spazio di luce, 2008

Bronze and gold, 103 15/16 × 68 ½ × 49 3/16 inches (264 × 174 × 125 cm)
© Giuseppe Penone

Richard Prince, Untitled (tire planter), 2007 Cast polyurethane, 40 × 68 × 68 inches (101.6 × 172.7 × 172.7 cm)© Richard Prince. Photo: Douglas M. Parker Studio

Richard Prince, Untitled (tire planter), 2007

Cast polyurethane, 40 × 68 × 68 inches (101.6 × 172.7 × 172.7 cm)
© Richard Prince. Photo: Douglas M. Parker Studio

Robert Therrien, No title (Folding table and chairs, green), 2008 Painted metal and fabric, overall dimensions variable© Robert Therrien/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Robert Therrien, No title (Folding table and chairs, green), 2008

Painted metal and fabric, overall dimensions variable
© Robert Therrien/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Franz West, Garden Pouf, 2010 Lacquered aluminum, 173 ¼ × 102 ⅜ × 88 ⅝ inches (439.9 × 260 × 225.1 cm)© Archiv Franz West. Photo: Mike Bruce

Franz West, Garden Pouf, 2010

Lacquered aluminum, 173 ¼ × 102 ⅜ × 88 ⅝ inches (439.9 × 260 × 225.1 cm)
© Archiv Franz West. Photo: Mike Bruce

Zeng Fanzhi, Untitled, 2012 Oil on canvas, 78 ¾ × 157 ½ inches (200 × 400 cm)Photo: Krause, Johansen

Zeng Fanzhi, Untitled, 2012

Oil on canvas, 78 ¾ × 157 ½ inches (200 × 400 cm)
Photo: Krause, Johansen

About

By nature the Third Landscape constitutes a territory for the multitude of species not finding place elsewhere.
—Gilles Clément

Gagosian Paris is pleased to present Le Jardin Décomposé / Decomposed Garden. The exhibition features works by Chris Burden, Maurizio Cattelan, Dan Colen, Michael Craig-Martin, Urs Fischer, Carsten Höller, Jeff Koons, Giuseppe Penone, Richard Prince, Robert Therrien, Franz West, and Zeng Fanzhi.

Comprising more than twenty monumental sculptures and paintings, Le Jardin Décomposé evokes an overlapping of city and nature, a place akin to botanist and writer Gilles Clément’s characterization of the Third Landscape as “the space left over by man to landscape evolution—to nature alone.” Clément places swamps, roadsides, railroad embankments, and other peripheral spaces within a category of “genetic reservoirs” where unattended plant life mixes with the urban environment and its detritus, sometimes to extraordinary effect. Works such as Richard Prince’s Untitled (tire planter) (2007), a bright-orange, tire-shaped vessel containing a tuft of weeds, and Carsten Höller’s Giant Triple Mushroom (2014), a mixed-media fungal hybrid created for this exhibition, allude to the gradual commingling that might take place in such forgotten terrain. Tenuously merging human and natural imagery in Waterfall Dots (Tree Rocks) (2008), Jeff Koons employs an oscillating visual field and anatomical overdrawing, revisiting Marcel Duchamp’s Étant donnés, where an idyllic landscape is the backdrop for a disturbing naked female body. In Holmby Hills Light Folly (2012), Chris Burden designates an incongruous yet inviting park square with cast-iron benches and lampposts.

In the Third Landscape, nature that has been displaced by industrial development adapts in improbable ways; replication and exaggeration of growth patterns lead to radiant dimensions. Giuseppe Penone’s Scrigno (Casket) (2007) is a patchwork mural of overlapping sections of weathered brown leather; moving around a living tree, he hammered the leather against it to impress the bark’s natural pattern and texture into the yielding membrane. Across the center of this vast work, which measures approximately fifteen meters wide, lies a small tree cast in bronze, split open to reveal its rich resin interior. Franz West’s bright-blue aluminum Garden Pouf (2010) is a treelike abstraction that zigzags more than four meters in the air, while in Zeng Fanzhi’s ominous landscape painting Untitled (2012), gnarled branches crisscross the lower registers of a nocturnal scene that combines controlled calligraphic techniques and supernatural light effects.

On October 25 at 2pm, dancers Raphaëlle Delaunay, Benjamin Pech, and Alice Renevand will perform an original ballet choreographed by Pech, étoile dancer at the Ballet de l’Opera National de Paris, to compositions by Claude Debussy, Antonio Vivaldi, and contemporary composer Emanuele De Raymondi.

Par nature le Tiers paysage constitue un territoire pour les multiples espèces ne trouvant place ailleurs.
—Gilles Clément

Gagosian Paris est heureuse de présenter l’exposition Le Jardin Décomposé. L’exposition comprend des oeuvres de Chris Burden, Maurizio Cattelan, Dan Colen, Michael Craig-Martin, Urs Fischer, Carsten Höller, Jeff Koons, Giuseppe Penone, Richard Prince, Robert Therrien, Franz West, and Zeng Fanzhi.

Rassemblant plus de vingt peintures et sculptures monumentales, Le Jardin Décomposé rappelle le chevauchement qui existe entre la ville et la nature, un endroit semblable à la caractérisation du Tiers paysage faite par le botaniste et écrivain Gilles Clément—qu’il décrivait comme «la somme des espaces où l’homme abandonne l’évolution du paysage à la seule nature». Clément place les marécages, les bords de route, les talus et autres espaces périphériques au sein de la catégorie des «réservoirs génétiques» où la flore, laissée sans surveillance, se mélange à l’environnement urbain et à ses détritus, parfois avec un effet extraordinaire. Des œuvres comme Untitled (tire planter) (2007) de Richard Prince—un saladier de couleur orange vif en forme de pneu et contenant une touffe de mauvaises herbes, et Giant Triple Mushroom de Carsten Höller (2014) hybride fongique—en technique mixte—œuvre créée pour cette exposition, font allusion au mélange progressif qui peut se produire dans de tels lieux abandonnés. Dans Waterfall Dots (Tree Rocks) (2008) Jeff Koons fait fusionner, de manière tenue, imagerie humaine et imagerie naturelle; il utilise un champ visuel oscillant et un dessin anatomique surimposé—revisitant ainsi l’œuvre Étant donnés de Marcel Duchamp où un paysage idyllique sert de toile de fond au corps troublant d’une femme nue. Avec Holmby Hills Lights Folly (2012), Chris Burden crée un square à l’allure incongrue, et pourtant attirante, avec ses bancs en fonte et ses réverbères.

Dans le Tiers Paysage, la nature qui a été déplacée par le développement industriel s’adapte de manière improbable; la réplication et l’exagération des modèles de croissance conduisent à des dimensions éclatantes. L’oeuvre Scrigno (Casket) (2007) de Giuseppe Penone est un patchwork mural où se chevauchent plusieurs sections de cuir marron patiné. Se déplaçant autour de l’arbre vivant, l’artiste a martelé le cuir contre le tronc afin de marquer le dessin et la texture naturelle de l’écorce dans la membrane fragile. Au centre de cette œuvre imposante, qui mesure environ 15 mètres de large, se trouve un petit arbre en bronze, fendu de manière à révéler la généreuse résine qu’il renferme. La sculpture Garden Pouf (2010), en aluminium bleu vif de Franz West, est une arborescence abstraite qui se déploie en zigzags dans l’espace sur plus de quatre mètres; tandis que dans la peinture de paysage—au ton menaçant de Zeng Fanzhi Untitled (2012)—des branches nouées sillonnent les inscriptions d’une scène nocturne qui combine la maîtrise des techniques calligraphiques et des effets de lumière surnaturels.

Le 25 octobre à 14h, les danseurs Raphaëlle Delaunay, Benjamin Pech, et Alice Renevand se produiront pour un ballet inédit dont la chorégraphie a été conçue par Pech, danseur étoile au Ballet de l’Opéra National de Paris, avec des compositions de Claude Debussy, Antonio Vivaldi, ou encore du compositeur contemporain Emanuele De Raymondi.

Le Jardin Décomposé

Le Jardin Décomposé

Choreographer Benjamin Pech’s danseur étoile, an original ballet composed for the group exhibition Le Jardin Décomposé.

Oscar Murillo and Ben Luke on Franz West

In Conversation
Oscar Murillo and Ben Luke on Franz West

In conjunction with Franz West: Papier, the gallery’s presentation of paper-based works by Franz West at Frieze Masters 2023, artist Oscar Murillo and arts writer, critic, and broadcaster Ben Luke sit down to discuss Murillo’s collaboration in selecting the works on view, as well as his personal experiences meeting the late artist in London.

Urs Fischer: Wave

Urs Fischer: Wave

In this video, Urs Fischer elaborates on the creative process behind his public installation Wave, at Place Vendôme, Paris.

Carsten Höller, Decimal Clock (Blue and Orange), 2023

Around and Around and Around: Federico Campagna and Carsten Höller

Philosopher Federico Campagna and artist Carsten Höller came together, on the heels of Höller’s exhibition Clocks in Paris, to consider the measurement of time, the problem with fun, and the fine line between mysticism and nihilism.

Roe Ethridge's Two Kittens with Yarn Ball (2017–22) on the cover of Gagosian Quarterly, Spring 2023

Now available
Gagosian Quarterly Spring 2023

The Spring 2023 issue of Gagosian Quarterly is now available, featuring Roe Ethridge’s Two Kittens with Yarn Ball (2017–22) on its cover.

Dan Colen, Mother (Intersection), 2021–22, oil on canvas, 59 × 151 inches (149.9 × 383.5 cm)

Dan Colen: Other Worlds Are Possible

In this interview, curator and artist K.O. Nnamdie speaks with artist Dan Colen about his recent show in New York: Lover, Lover, Lover. Colen delves into the concept of “home” as it relates to his work, specifically the Mother and Woodworker series. Thinking through the political and historical implications of “homeland” in the context of the artist’s relationship with Israel and America, the two consider the intersections between these paintings—the final group of his Disney-inspired canvases—and Colen’s work with Sky High Farm, New York.