Jérémie Gindre
Infinite crust
13 November – 23 December 2010
For his first solo show within the gallery context, Jérémie Gindre concentrates on selected elements which have been of major importance in his recent research: the idea of territory and discovery from one side and the curiosities in nature from the other.
Entering the gallery, the visitor will face a selection of drawings from the series “Some Rocks Seen By George O. Willard On His Way West During Summer 1855, Some Of Which He Engraved His Name On”. George O. Willard was one of the thousands of americans who went west in the middle of the 19th century. The artist found Willard´s name engraved on most of the important rocks along the Oregon Trail, the first track to Western territories. At the time it was a ritual to engrave names on these rocks, which were used as landmarks before the existence of roads, and so became registers of the great migration.
In the same room, the new sculpture “The missing handle of the teapot” is presented. This areated concrete sculpture restores the original form of the famous Teapot Rock in Wyoming, named after its particular form. Since becoming partially destroyed in a lightning storm, its shape now barely evokes a teapot and merely resembles a giant archeological object.
In the second room of the gallery we encounter a composition of different pieces: two paintings from the series “Les Précieux”, the lines of which report different scientific diagrams showing the properties and origins of crystals. The drawings are made by burning tar paper and the result appears as lava, the source of many precious minerals. Next to the drawings, a text-painting adds a narrative element to the composition and some amateur reproductions of different minerals link back to the idea of the curiosities and peculiarities in nature.
On the other wall, the artist presents selections from “Les Domaines”, a series of drawings tracing the trails of some famous sky resorts around the world. These drawings bring the exhibition full cirlce, linking back to the first series “Some rocks seen by George O. Willard…”, in the way they both propose a very specific geography.
Throughout the exhibition Jérémie Gindre focusses on the more intimate side of his research. All the pieces in the show present a precise narration which consistently belongs to the human need to name the unknown and its curiosities. This constant research for something “precious” and “special”, that carries a strong sense of the pioneer spirit, reveals meanwhile its hidden irony, and the deception involved in this unreachable end.
