Pas vu, pas pris, Richard Fauguet

We remember his Ping-pong tables overlaid with a flying tracery of white balls in a frantically frozen mix of Muybridge and Tex Avery; collaged “molecules” of different animals made entirely of light bulbs; outlines of classical sculpture masterpieces cut from Vénilia decorative adhesive and using the manufacturer’s 300-odd patterns; freestanding drawings made with stovepipes – a new kind of artistic smokescreen – that invariably morph into Darth Vader, a gleaming Harley chopper or Marcel Breuer’s celebrated Vassily armchair.

 

Although in no way a retrospective, this exhibition by Richard Fauguet – his first in a Paris museum – enables us to go beyond the excessively fragmentary vision we have so far had of his work and comprehend the scope and issues of an oeuvre combining drawings, sculpture and installations of all kinds.

 

Comprising early works for the most part not shown before – in particular some of the drawings that underpin his work – as well as completely new ones like Queer Interior, Formica Blues III and Busy Rider, this exhibition is an opportunity for the public to discover an oeuvre which is as much at home with art history as with all forms of popular culture – from Dada to the rules of the road in pictures, from Constructivism to handmade baskets – and is now finding exhilarating expression through a radical kind of freedom.

 

The exhibition will be accompanied by a new monograph on the artist. Featuring essays by Patrick Javault and Vincent Pécoil, it is published by Monografik with the support of Frac Limousin, Issoudin Museum, art :concept gallery and the Ministry of Culture’s National Centre for the Plastic Arts.

 

Exhibition curator: Xavier Franceschi, Director, Frac Ile-de-France

 

Slide Show