VINCENT BEAURIN

CV

Vincent Beaurin studied silversmithing at the École Boulle, and painting at the ENSET, in the 1970s, in Paris. In the 1980s, he blew paint on canvas. As an artist, the concept of accessibility to the artwork led him to conceive, make, and produce domestic objects in the 1990s. Since his exhibition Fragilism, with the architect, designer, and theorist Alessandro Mendini, in Paris, at the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, in 2002, Vincent Beaurin has informed his practice with powdery materials, and visions, with an acute need for luminosity, and levitation. His fascination with atmospheric colours lies at the core of his sculptural, and painting work.

« My work is essentially chromatic. Materials and supports are chosen or developed to give a body to the colour. »

Vincent Beaurin’s artworks belong to the public art collections of the MNAM – Centre Georges Pompidou; of the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain; of the FNAC, Fonds National d’Art Contemporain ; and of the MUDAM, Museum of Modern Art, Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg.

He has produced several large private, and public commissioned works globally, including Quiero (2017), Majorca, Balearic Islands; Tree of Life (2016) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; La nuit des Gobelins (2012-2016), tapestry for the French National Mobilier; Andalus, Constellation (2014), Arch, and Couronne (2013), Cheval Blanc Randheli, Noonu atoll, Maldives.

Vincent Beaurin, (1960) is based in Paris.

(SL) solo exhibition   (D), Duo   (GP), group show   (C), collaboration

2019

Vincent Beaurin, Marco Tirelli, Maab gallery, ArteFiera, Bologna, Italy (D)

Le Bateau-Atelier de Titouan Lamazou, curated by Jean de Loisy, and Titouan Lamazou, Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, Paris, France (GP)

2018

NUN, curated by Domenico de Chirico, Maab gallery, Milan, Italy (SL)

La treizième constellation (Le Serpentaire), curated by Pascal Rousseau, Miquel Alzueta gallery, Barcelona, Spain (SL)

Adyton, presented by Romain Torri, platform Curio, DesignMiami fair, Basel, Switzerland (SL)

Lady Dior as seen by, ArtBasel, Hong Kong (GP)

Au fil du Siècle, 1918-2018, Chefs-d’œuvre de la Tapisserie, Galerie des Gobelins, Manufacture des Gobelins, mobilier national, Paris, France (GP)

 2017

L’Expérience de la couleur, National museum of ceramic, Sèvres, France (GP)
Oh couleurs, Decorative art, and design museum of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France (GP)

Lady Dior as seen by, Taïpei101, Taïpei, China (GP)

A Materia da Cor, Raquel Arnaud Gallery, curated by Franck Marlot, Sao-Paulo, Brazil (GP)

La convergence des antipodes, Mécènes du Sud Montpellier-Sète, Montpellier (GP)

État alchimique, with Corentin Grossmann, Brownstone foundation, Paris (D)

Harmonie municipale, with Patrick de Glo de Besses, Galerie de multiples, Paris (C)

2016

All I want for Christmas is, Galerie des multiples, Paris, France (GP)

La convergence des antipodes, Mécènes du Sud Montpellier-Sète, Montpellier (GP)

Appels, curated by Corentin Grossmann, Galerie du Théâtre Le Granit scène nationale,  Belfort,  France  (GP)

Non figuratif, informel, minimaliste, abstrait. Un nouvel intérêt, Contemporary art centre Abbaye Saint-André, France (GP)

Lady Dior as seen by, Langen Foundation, Düsseldorf, Germany (GP)

Tracks, Le Portique, espace d’art contemporain, Le Havre, France  (GP)

Quizz 2, MUDAM, Museum of Modern Art, Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, (GP)

Lady Dior as seen by, Boutique House of Dior, Seoul, South Korea (GP)

2015

Abstract Jungle, Galerie De Multiples, Paris, France (GP)

Zones de confort, CNAP, centre national des arts plastiques collection, Poirel public gallery, Nancy, France (GP)

Mémoires Vives, 1984-2014: 30 years of stories. Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain collection, Paris, France (GP)

2014

Festival New Settings, Al Hamrã, a show by Vincent Beaurin, with the  participation of the composer, and musician Justin Godfrey, Théâtre de la Cité internationale, Paris, France, New Settings #4, produced by Hermès Foundation, and Lebeau & associés. (C).

Vincent Beaurin, Laurent Godin gallery, Paris, France  (SL)
Mémoires Vives, 1984-2014: 30 years of stories. Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain collection, Paris, France (GP)

Grey Flags, curated by Timothée Chaillou, Backslash Gallery, Paris, France  (GP)

Sinon, le chaos, curated by Timothée Chaillou, APPARTEMENT, Paris, France  (GP)

Quizz 1, Poirel public gallery, Nancy, France (GP)

2013

Lady Dior as seen by, Instituto Tomie Ohtake, Sao-Paulo, Brazil (GP)

Buisson, Commissioned marble marquetry , 304 x 314 cm, Marseille-Provence 2013 , Aix-en-Provence, France (SL)

Le Milieu du Monde, Tourinnes-la-Grosse, France (GP)

De leur Temps, Contemporary art centre le Hangar à Bananes, Nantes, France (GP)

Couronne, Laurent Godin gallery, Paris, France (SL)

Triptyque bleu, 2013, Permanent collection of the MNAM, Musée National d’Art Moderne Georges Pompidou centre, Paris, France (GP)

Young International Artists, Royal Monceau hotel, Paris, France  (GP)

Just a perfect Year, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France  (GP)

Around Bodies, Anoa Gallery Paris, France  (GP)

2012

Parcours Saint Germain des Prés, Paris, France  (GP)

Plaisirs de France, State Museum of Arts of Republic of Kazakhstan, Abylkan Kasteev Almaty, Kazakhstan (GP)

Lady Dior as seen by, Boutique Dior, Tokyo, Japan (GP) & Triennale di Milano, Italy (GP)

Plaisirs de France, The Baku Museum of Modern Art, Azerbaidjan (GP)
Vincent Beaurin, Laurent Godin gallery, Paris, France (SL)

-3000, Galerie de Multiples, Paris, France (SL)

2011

Bêtes off, La Conciergerie, Paris, France (GP)
Les Flâneries d’Art Contemporain, Aix-enProvence, France (GP)
Escargothique, bizaraignée, éléphantasme…un bestiaire merveilleux, Monument et animaux, Château de Pierrefonds, France (GP)
Lady Dior Traveling Art & Handbag Exhibition, Central Atrium, Shanghai (GP)
Walking through… MUDAM permanent collection, Museum of Modern Art, Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, (GP)

2010

This could be a place of historical importance, Torri gallery, Paris, France  (GP)
Du prisme cézanien, Spots exhibition, Fondation d’entreprise Ricard, Paris, France (SL)
Le Spectre / dans l’atelier de Cézanne, Paul Cézanne’s studio, Aix-en-Provence, France (SL)
Living rooms / Pièces à vivre, Contemporary art centre of Chamarande, France  (GP)

Le carillon de Big Ben, CREDAC, Contemporary art centre, Ivry-sur-Seine, France (GP)
Les Belles Images : Troisième Type, curated by Céline Poulin, and Tony Regazzoni, Contemporary art centre la Box, Bourges, France (GP)
Chasse aux fantômes, Museum of Hunting and of Nature, Paris, France (GP)
Le meilleur des mondes, MUDAM, Museum of Modern Art, Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, (GP)

2009

Les années Staudenmeyer, 25 years of Design in France, Passage de Retz, Paris, France (GP)

Culte, Frédéric Giroux gallery, Paris, France (SL)
Totems et tabous, Galerie de Multiples, Paris, France (GP)

Moi et les autres III, Catherine Issert gallery, Saint Paul de Vence, France (GP)
Overlap, Crèvecoeur gallery, Paris, France (GP)
Scintille, Vincent Beaurin / Alessandro Mendini, Circuit, Association of contemporary art, Lausanne, Switzerland (C)
1m3 sous terre, 1M3, Contemporary art centre, Lausanne, Switzerland (SL)
Le travail de rivière, CREDAC, Contemporary art centre, Ivry-sur-Seine, France (GP)

2008

FIAC 2008, Outdoor sculptures, Louvre Museum, Paris, France (GP)

Il était une fois…, Parcours Saint-Germain, boutique Céline, Paris, (GP)
Spectrarium, Cité Internationale universitaire de Paris, Swiss pavillion, France (GP)
Black on White, Frédéric Giroux gallery, Paris, France (GP)

Chausses-trappes Gang Warily! (marche avec prudence), curated by Delphine Coindet, FRI-ART, Contemporary art centre, Fribourg, Switzerland  (GP)

Des constructeurs éclectiques, curated by Lise Guéhenneux, CRAC, Contemporary regional art centre Languedoc-Roussillon, Sète, France (GP)

2007

Ghost, Galerie de multiples, Paris, France (GP)
Dérive, 9th edition of the Foundation Ricard prize, Paris, France (GP)

La nuit blanche, St Roch church, Paris, France (GP)
Basilic, Frédéric Giroux gallery, Paris, France (SL)
Les roses de Jéricho, curated by Claire Le Restif, Attitudes, Contemporary art centre, Genève, Switzerland (GP)

2006

Avant la panique, CREDAC, Contemporary art centre, Ivry sur Seine, France (SL)
The fun of the past, Eldorado, MUDAM permanent collection, Museum of Modern Art, Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, (GP)
La fierté de Paris, Frédéric Giroux gallery Paris, France (SL)
Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan (GP)

2005

Construire un feu, Delphine Coindet / Vincent Beaurin, Edouard Manet public gallery, Gennevilliers, France (C)

Big Bang, Collection du Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France (GP)
Les rivières ont leur source dans la terre et se jettent dans la mer qui va au ciel, CRAC, Sète, France (SL)

2004

Yanomami l’esprit de la forêt, Centro cultural de la Banco do Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, (GP)

Je m’installe aux abattoirs, Agnès B collection, Toulouse, France (GP)

2003

The Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain collection, Umea, Sweden (GP)

Yanomami l’esprit de la forêt, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris, France (GP)

Vincent Beaurin, Eric Dupont gallery, Paris, France (SL)

2002

Préhistorique, Beaurin / Domerq, La Verrière, Hermès, Bruxelles, Belgium (C)

Fragilisme, Alessandro Mendini, Vincent Beaurin, Fabrice Domerq, Beaurin / Domerq, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris, France (C)

2000

Beaurin / Domerq, CAPC, Contemporary art museum, Bordeaux, France (C)
Collezionism, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain collection, Palazzo delle Papesse, Sienne, Italy (C)

1999

1 monde réel, Beaurin / Domerq, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris, France (C)

Façades, Beaurin / Domerq, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris, France (C)

1998

Kojoyama Villa residency, Kyoto, Japan.

Vitrines, Beaurin / Domercq, Museum of Decorative Arts, Paris, France (C)

Beaurin / Domercq, Elga Wimmer gallery, New York, USA, (C)

Beaurin / Domercq, French cultural center, Milan, Italy (C)

1996

Assembled in Ivry, CREDAC, Contemporary art centre, Ivry sur Seine, France (GP)

Vincent Beaurin, Emmanuel Perrotin gallery, Paris, France (SL)

1995

Vincent Beaurin selected by Andrée Putman, Artists Space gallery, New York USA, (SL)

About

About

The Thirteenth Constellation

(Serpens)

Vincent Beaurin’s oeuvre is a sensitive exploration of colours, surfaces and materials. Finding the most appropriate form to let a living and atmospheric colour unfurl in space. To obtain the hypnotic effect of these radiating disks, the artist makes sure he assumes the production process in its entirety, down to the most ritual operations refining the form. The artist trims his polystyrene spots using a toothed saw and a scraper brush, with no real possibility of any reworking, pentimento-like, challenging the “know-how” of a made-to-measure work. Through this chiseling of free and autonomous forms in space, this work has to do with the legacy of modernist abstraction, while linking up with a longer-term aesthetic history which, from Turner to Kandinsky, focuses on revealing the boundaries of the visible in the activity of thresholds of colour.

We could talk about a quest for the primordial form, whose unstable outlines are made and unmade in the gradual appearance of colour. For the work on chromatic vibration is also sophisticated. Vincent Beaurin covers his ocelli with glass  beads and sequins, then, after glueing the piece with epoxy resin acting as a fixative, he sprinkles the surface of these coloured sequins, which resist any alteration in an exposure to light, and the corrosive effect of ultraviolet rays. He repeats this operation several times after the piece has dried, It is the multiplication of these fine skin-like layers which optimizes the subtle vibration effect, based on the principle of the optical mixture of colours given their best look by shades of tints and values shared between the centre and the edge of the picture (Vincent Beaurin is a keen reader of Goethe’s Theory of Colours).

This aura effect refers quite literally to what Walter Benjamin meant by “the here and now of the work, the uniqueness of its presence in the place where it is”. The surface radiates around itself while keeping a distance to avoid turning this presence into a simple visual fact. Tactile gaze and presence in the place go hand-in-hand here: they are a matter of balance and tact. The form of the disks results from a gradual erosion of the volumes and surfaces, akin to craftsmanlike honing whose precision asserts the technical complexity of the gesture, to reach a carefully adjusted limit. What sort of limit? That of a minimal congestion of bodies. Being at once very present in the visual field while disappearing as an object: defined and elusive, all at once. The ocelli lend form to what Goethe poetically called a light image (Lichtbild). So we think of celestial bodies, not only the sun but stars and even planets, too.

In The Thirteenth Constellation (Serpens), produced specifically for his first show in Barcelona, Vincent Beaurin turns into an engraver of stars. The distribution of these ocelli creates a curve with cosmic echoes: or how to conceive of abstraction in painting as a perceptible way of finding your place in the complex world of shapes, sensations and relations. Thirteen ocelli form an alignment of stars. The number is carefully chosen. It refers here to the “thirteenth constellation” known as “Serpens”, in astrological vocabulary. Though a subject of discussion among specialists of the signs of the Zodiac, this 13^th constellation, illustrated in tradition by a man with a snake wound around him (the man is in fact Asclepius, a physician who, according to Greek mythology, stunned one snake and saw a second one bring it back to consciousness with one herb), is placed between the constellations of Scorpius and Sagittarius, and symbolically represented by a snake wrapping itself around a rod, now an emblem of medicine. It is said that this sign brings harmony and well-being.

It is this snake coiled around a rod that some Catalan archaeologists found in 1909 in the ruins of Ampurias, close to a Greek statue that was quite quickly identified as the mythological figure of Asclepius, the Graeco-Roman god of medicine. Which brings us back to a principle dear to Vincent Beaurin: the catharsis of colours. Contemplation of these ocelli in mid-air is conducive to the quest for a state of physical and mental well-being (Goethe talks of a “rose of temperaments”, describing a colour diagram). Their absorbed fixation makes it possible to remove oneself, the better to experience the sensation of being in the world. It introduces what François Roustang, the great champion of the return of hypnosis in the therapeutic field, called a vigilance which “gives us access to the power of configuring the world”. Vincent Beaurin’s Thirteenth Constellation is a springboard for an inward-looking daydream in which is enacted an authentic organizational power in the individual faced with his environment. Neither a vanishing point, nor a sky line, it sets us up in an intoxicating state of weightlessness. Luxury, calm and pleasure—luxe, calme et volupté– under the benevolent sign of Serpens. Pascal Rousseau, June 2018