GUILLAUME CONSTANTIN

París, 1974
Lives and works in Paris, France

guillaume.constantin.free.fr

Guillaume Constantin Born 1974 Graduated from Richard Deacon's studio in Ensb-A, Paris, he shows his work regularly in France, from la Fondation D'Entreprise Ricard (Paris), le Frac Haute-Normandie (Rouen) to various smaller venues and galleries... his sculptures, soundpieces and objects have strong
connections with materiality and context and this quotation can define quite well his practice: "let's just imitate the real until we find a better one".
He's represented by french galleries Bertrand Grimont in Paris and Bonneau-Samamès in Marseille. www.bertrandgrimont.com - www.bonneau-samames.com
Works also a visual arts curator for Instants Chavirés, a music venue and artspace dedicated to experimental, improvised musics as well as visual & sound arts. www.instantschavires.com

Solo Shows

2011
UN NUAGE D'INCERTITUDES Bertrand Grimont Gallery, Paris.
2010
OF OF FOSSIL OF Bonneau-Samames Gallery, Marseille.
CE SOIR J'AVALE with Arnaud Rivière & Damien Schultz, DAF, Nantes.
PATTERN RECOGNITION #4
L'art dans les Chapelles, Saint Gildas Chapel, Bieuzy-les-Eaux.

2009
COPIES CACHÉES
outdoor project, Parc Saint léger Art Center, Pougues les Eaux.

LET'S jUST IMITATE THE REAL UNTIL WE FIND A BETTER ONE
Bonneau-Samames Gallery, Marseille.

2008
TOUTES SORTES D'OMISSIONS Superior Art School of Lorient.

Selected GroupShows

2011
HELP! curated by Asami Nishimura + Kana Sunayama with jean-Luc vilmouth, Premier Regard Gallery, Paris.
NE jAMAIS REMETTRE Á DEMAIN CE QUE L'ON PEUT FAIRE D'UNE SEULE
Curated by julien Nédélec, La Graineterie, Houilles.
DRAWING NOW drawing art fair, Louvre Carousel, Paris.

UNE CHAMBRE EN VILLE curated by CODE MAGAZINE 2.0 (Clément Dirié & Laetitia Chauvin)
Fondation Bullukian, Lyon
A BOX IS A BOX IS A BOX Florence Loewy Bookstore, Paris

2010
CARNETS D'INSPIRATION +
Musée d'art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris.

LA GAMME PÉROUSE curated by Maxime Thieffine & Alexandre Ovize
Lamarche-Ovize Studio, Aubervilliers.

CARGO CULTE curated by Axelle Banc & Tiphanie Chateigné-Blanc
La vitrine, Paris.

LES INTERLOCUTEURS curated by Mathilde villeneuve
Printemps de Septembre / Palais des Arts - Toulouse.

SUR LA TERRE COME AU CIEL... centre d'art contemporain, Pontmain.

THÉORÈME Bertrand Grimont Gallery, Paris.

DERRIÈRE LA FORME / DOUCES COMBINAISONS curated by Colin Champsaur
Bonneau-Samames Gallery, Marseille

QUELLE ÉNERGIE METTONS-NOUS Á TRANFORMER LES CHOSES, AVEC UN PLAISIR NON DISSIMULÉ
curated by Rada Boukova, la Générale en Manufacture, Sèvres.

COLLÈGE ROBINSON curated by Cécilia Bécanovic, Ateliers des Arques, lesArques.

INS BLICKFELD GERüCKT curated by Gaëlle Boucand & Francisca Würz
French Institute, Berlin.
LES BELLES IMAGES SECOND SCÉNARIO curated by Céline Poulin & Grégory Castéra

La Box, Bourges.
ESPÈCES D'HYBRIDES curated by Buy-Sellf Art Club, 40mcube, Rennes.

2009
PLUS RÉEL QUE L'HERBE: LES CRATÈRES DE L'INFINI curated by Ernesto Sartori, ZOO Galerie, Nantes.
PLUS RÉEL QUE L'HERBE: LOW PROFILE, HI-RESOLUTION curated by Armand Morin, ZOO Galerie.
SLICK ART FAIR 2009 Bertrand Grimont Gallery, at the 104, Paris.
TOILET ENCOUNTERS #2 Invitation by Charlie jeffery, Paris.
NOUS NE VIEILLIRONS PAS ENSEMBLE curated by Label Hypothèse

Nuke/Bertrand Grimont / la Générale/ 0fr galleries - Paris.
ART ATHINA Athens Art fair, Bonneau-Samames Gallery (Marseille).
RÉPERTOIRE POUR UNE FORME curated by Mathilde villeneuve La vitrine, Paris.

2008
PARADOXE DU TRÉSOR with Raphaël Zarka Interface, Dijon.
... /... with Raphaël Zarka Cardenas-Bellanger, Paris.
A SPLIT SINGLE invitation by Claude Lévêque

Frac Haute Normandie, Sotteville-Lès-Rouen. PLAYTIME curated by Mélanie Bouteloup & Grégory Castéra Bétonsalon, Paris. A DISTANCE (BEHIND THE BACK OF R.DEACON) Galerie Bernard jordan, Paris. POWER ON w/ Anthony Duchêne & Hugo Schüwer-Boss Le 13Bis, Clermont-Ferrand. CE QUI REVIENT curated by François Aubart Galerie ACDC, Brest. THE WHITE PATCH HAD BECOME A PLACE OF DARKNESS curated by G.Constantin
Histoire de l'oeil, Marseille.

2007
XS PARIS curated by Elisabeth Wetterwald Fondation d'Entreprise Ricard, Paris.
10 SAISONS 1996-2006 Galerie du Haut Pavé, Paris.
AVEC LESQUELLES J'EXERÇAIS DANS L'OMBRE villa des Tourelles, Nanterre.
619.JPG curated by l'Ambassade, Appt 619, Cité Radieuse, Marseille.
XS curated by Elisabeth Wetterwald Espace Mica, St Grégoire, Rennes.
UN VOYAGE D'HIVER with Raphaël Zarka invitation by Tripode, Espace Diderot, Rezé/Nantes.
CE VOLUME D'AIR CONTENU La Générale, Paris.

2006
HORIZONS SYNTHÉTIQUES curated by l'Ambassade Mains d'œuvres, Saint Ouen.
ART BRUSSELS Cardenas Bellanger, Bruxelles.
RÉCURRENCES DÉROBÉES curated by Raphaël Zarka Bétonsalon, Paris.

2005
MEMOIRE COLLECTIVE st pancras crypt, London, UK. SERENDIPITY OU LA PRODUCTIVITÉ DU HASARD Console/Galerie Frédèric Giroux, Paris.
2004
BUY-SELLF Ateliers d'Artistes, Marseille.
PRINTROOM Het Wilde Weten, Rotterdam, Netherlands.

2003
DASEIN Ernst-Barlach Museum, Hamburg, Germany.
2001
RÉSIDENCE 2001 Centre d'Art Contemporain, Pontmain. SINCÈRES FÉLICITATIONS year 2000 graduated, Ensb-A, Paris, France.

Education

1999/2000 Graduated with congratulations from Ensb-A (National Superior Fine Arts School), Paris in 2000 (Richard Deacon studio). 1994/1999 Graduated (DNSEP& DNAP) from ESA (Superior School of Arts) Angers, in 1999 and 1997 (with mention).

Teaching

- 3D instructor, foundation year, Parson School, Paris since 2008.
- Jury Diplomas (DNAP), ENSA Limoges, june 2010.
- Conference & Workshop with third, fourth and fifth grade students from ESA Clermont-Ferrand in Sète 2009

- Conference, CRAC Sète, novembre 2009.

- Jury Diplomas (DNSEP), ESA Lorient, june 2009.
- Conference, Dornes school, may 2009.

- Conference, Les Arcades artschool, Issy-Les-Moulineaux, january 2009.

- Sonate Hoboken, a listening session proposed by Grégory Castéra, Bétonsalon, Paris, december 2008.
- Conference & studios visits, Fine Arts School, Rouen october 2008.
- Conference & Workshop with fourth and fifth grade students, ESA Lorient january 2008

- Sculpture Workshop in visual arts course, 1st and 2nd grade, visual Arts Faculty, University of Lille. 2007

Artistic Residencies

Collège Robinson (curator C. Bécanovic) Ateliers des Arques, 2010
Residency in the Immanence (art space in paris) space in Prenzlauer berg, Berlin.
Astérides studios for artists, two month residency, Marseille.

Curating

Works also as visual arts curator since 2002 in Instants Chavirés, a 20 years-old venue dedicated to experimental and improvised musics and more recently visual arts within a new space next to the concert hall in Montreuil (93), France. www.instantschavires.com
RIEN à VOIR 2002 - 2010 monthly artists' video program.
LIEUX COMMUNS 2004 - 2007, sound and visual arts festival.
CE MOMENT D'ATTENTE Dominique PETITGAND (solo show) 2008
lA SPÉCIFICITÉ DES SOLS - ART GRANDEUR NATURE 2008 (collective show)
PAR DES RIGOLES, DES CANAUX, LA FORME EST CONDUCTRICE 2009 (collective show)
L'ÉTAT DE SURFACE 2010 (collective show)
LA FORMULE DU BINÔME 2011 (collective show)

Grants

ville de Paris, Art in the city department, 2008.
Individual grant for creation, Drac Ile-de-France, 2008.

Publications

"HYPERTEXTE #3 Des fantômes à l'oeuvre" (+ web specific work "everyday ghosts") éditions Ed Spector, 2010
"Une forme pour toute action" notes by Mathilde VILLENEUVE, Printemps de septembre, 2010
"Nous ne vieillirons pas ensemble" collective catalog text by C. ALANDETE 2010.
"l'art dans les chapelles" text by Pl CONSTANTIN 2010.
"BOOK" collective project edited by Lendroit 2008.
"10 saisons" collective catalog, Haut-Pavé Gallery text by Maxime THIEFFINE 2007.
"l'excuse du vide" digital print, residency, Astérides, Marseille 2007.
"nos amours de vacances" collective exhibition catalog, text by Cecilia BECANOvIC 2006.
"objet trouvé" portfolio, la Canopée n°1, 2005.
"memoire Collective" collective exhibition catalog, text by Richard DEACON 2005.
"Buy-Sellf n°4" catalog, 2004.
"résidence 2001' Centre d'Art Sacré Contemporain, Pontmain, text by Pierre GIqUEL 2001.
"sincères félicitations" collective exhibition catalog, graduated in 2000, Ensb-a, Paris, 2001

A CLOUD OF UNCERTAINTIES
EXTRACT FROM THE INTERVIEW BETWEEN
GUILLAUME CONSTANTIN AND FRANCOIS AUBARD

MADE FOR THE EXHIBITION
A CLOUD OF UNCERTAINTIES
BERTRAND GRIMONT GALLERY, PARIS - FRANCE
3/12 - 4/29 - 2011

GUILLAUME CONSTANTIN IS AN ARTIST
FRANCOIS AUBARD IS A CRITIC AND CURATOR

Interview between Guillaume Constantin and François Aubard

(excerpt from the interview conducted in Feb.‐March, 2011)

François Aubart: Where does this show's title comes from?

Guillaume Constantin: It was a newspaper article title on the ash cloud caused by the eruption of a volcano in Iceland, it had disrupted the air traffic over Europe between April and May 2010. This is the kind of title which is fabricated with 'calculated catastrophism', with a near anecdotical, even fictional symbolism that, nevertheless, remain quite evocative and mysterious when we take the time to consider it.

FA: Actually I feel that this title can be read as a definition of your work since a cloud is something for which movement is built-in its own properties. Furthermore, a cloud is also a 'tag cloud', a set of keywords linked and scattered to compose an identity. Moreover, the cloud you suggest is made of uncertainty which seems to me close to your way of operating. Often your productions become patterns that you reuse in different contexts and can be thus translated from one material to another. Is this a reason for choosing this title?

GC: A cloud is something quite paradoxical. It is not easy to imagine that it is a large amount of water suspended in the atmosphere and prone to change its appearance depending on the circumstances. So this is something seemingly very simple but is actually quite complex. This changing property interests me very much indeed. I also chose this title for the dysfunctions produced by this ash cloud, as a metaphor for my work: a practice made of dysfunction, fragility, unbalance, replete with direct or oblique references to death, for example a black on black replica of Ad Reinhardt's (1) 'Black Paintings' catalogue, or the extinction of more light, a Claude Lévêque neon that cites Goethe (2), also the false neons that do not work (3), and the series 'Everyday Ghosts (4).
I agree fully with your idea of tag cloud, a cloud of keywords, it seems to me quite fair, since what I do are combinations of elements that gravitate together and connect to a given location in space and time. You mention keywords, I might add 'key materials' that define very well the pattern notion. Materials that fit together, facing each other but not always in a controlled manner. My practice is now defined much more by this notion than by its relation to fragility or over death.

FA: Can you clarify what you mean by "key materials"? I'm asking this question since some of them come back regularly as patterns or objects. This applies to bed sheets or stones for example. What kind of relationship to you have with the materials and objects that you process and use?

GC: From my point of view, everything is a material and thus a 'key material' literally 'opens' a gateway to a feeling, a notion, an idea. It
may be a specific material such as cork insulation, thermoformed plastic, or Plexiglas sticks but also the figurative character of a room, its 'readability', or as I do with text fragments such as spams of quotes. All the elementsn form a kind of palette in which I draw in order to bring forward forms and proposals.
The recurrent patterns that you mention, such as draperies or rocks, are classical, even archaic references
in sculpture that I enquire and divert in my own way. That induces a certain reading of the past, the tradition and a play with it. These elements collide with standard industrial and chemical materials that I use.

(1) 'Print in black', 2008, black laser print on black Canson paper, 28x20 (closed format), full reproduction of Ad Reinhard's 'Black Paintings', 1970
(2) 'Plus de lumiére (retake)', 2007, Plexiglas, electrical wires, cardboard, pvc stands, retake of Claude Lévêque neon, 1999.
(3) 'Let's just imitate the real until we find a better one', 2009, painted Plexiglas, black feather cardboard, phosphorescent paint, acrylic stands, silicone, 90x30cm
(4) 'Everyday Ghosts', downloadable screensaver, produced for the Hypertexte magazine, n°3: http://www.projet‐hypertexte.com/index.php?page=10_No3‐Constantin&sommaire=s_no3

(Translation by Samy Da Silva)