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gilbert garcin – retrospective at: espace jacques villeglé from: now – until june 20, 2009 (free entry)

espace jacques villegle, (saint gratien, france) is currently holding a retrospective of gilbert garcin’s work. the french artist creates surreal collages / sculptures from paper, sand, string, rocks, pieces of a meccano and other discarded objects which he then photographs. he almost always features a cut-out of himself in his black and white images – ‘confronting the meanings and absurdities of the human condition in stark, dream-like landscapes and situations’.

gilbert garcin retrospective at espace jacques villegle - 2 the shortest path

gilbert garcin retrospective at espace jacques villegle - 3 the witness

gilbert garcin retrospective at espace jacques villegle - 4 the couple mechanism

gilbert garcin retrospective at espace jacques villegle - 5 le maitre du monde

gilbert garcin retrospective at espace jacques villegle - 6 self searching

gilbert garcin retrospective at espace jacques villegle - 7 change the world

gilbert garcin retrospective at espace jacques villegle - 8 nothing is perfect

gilbert garcin retrospective at espace jacques villegle - 9 diogenes or lucidity

the melancholy of garcin’s poetic ‘enactments’ never overwhelms.  instead, an optimistic humour is communicated throughout his series of allegorical works, a sense of playing in a psyche littered with fragments from the past.  garcin himself has explained: ‘in seventy years one has gathered ten thousand souvenirs, one has a sort of attic in one’s head.  piled-up things, which end up suddenly re-emerging.’

the free exhibition will end on june 20th – more information can be found here.