October 20 - December 22, 2011
Opening October 20, 2011, 6-10 p
«Synchron», the second exhibition conducted by Florian Schmidt for the New Galerie, literally feeds on the first one named «Synonym», shown in 2008 at the New Galerie de France, from the time when the New Galerie was hosted by the Galerie de France. The works left over from this exhibition as well as elements of communication (business cards, invitations) were used as recycled, processed materials. «Synchron» is a selective anagram for «Florian Schmidt, Synonym».
Florian Schmidt works on the interconnection of pictorial and sculptural elements. Sculptural gestures are performed in the bidimensional space of painting (cutting, shaping, excavating) and pictorial objects placed in space. Parts or component parts are often reused to build other pieces. The permutations emphasize the primacy of his intention and his fluid practice on any pictorial or sculptural unambiguous speech, and on any focus on the art object. By appropriating a cinematic expression, Florian Schmidt’s objects have an existence «off camera.»
However, traditional mediums act like a «framework,» and each time a new gesture comes «on camera,» it acquires a specific value. In this sense, each of Florian Schmidt’s actions fit into a history of abstraction and his research on the medium. For “Synchron”, «off camera» has a specific value because in one sense it is about the “remake” of a previous exhibition. Florian Schmidt applies a workshop practice - where an artist will alter or modify the parts that no longer suit him - to the exhibition space. The «passage» on display is no longer an absolute transmutation, and a work already shown can still be modified. The exhibition can be interpreted in several ways: as a classic exhibition or as an «oeuvre à clé» by comparing it to the first. For paintings, like Synchron (Enigma) (2011), Synchron (Rise) (2011)… Florian Schmidt has reworked a set of canvases by recovering them with large sections of colored cardboards that have been stapled. The original paintings can scarcely be seen and are the literal support of the new construction.
Florian Schmidt also uses the “Synonym” exhibition invitations, which included reproductions of large predominantly purple drawings from the Anonyma (2008) series. These cut out and recomposed invitations make up a new drawing included in Synchron(Anonyma) (2011). In addition, glued to the Synchron (Bones) (2011) white sculptures, they give a truly unique color to the show. The business cards of the installation manager of the New Galerie de France, have been reused and rearranged for Untitled (Thierry) (2011) in a series of six works that recall minimal paintings. One can barely see the writing underneath where they have been painted over. If the game with ephemeral exhibition materials is a «cliché» for conceptual and post conceptual artists, its use by an artist using traditional media is far less so. The gesture can be considered that of an “inclusive” artist, gaining nurture from everything and literally digesting his previous exhibitions. In this respect, in view of the growing value of «medium exhibition», this is no longer seen as a specific display, but as one source among many. But the gesture is also transgressive in the sense that it is a past communication of the gallery that gives its «color» to the exhibition, which clashes with the high value usually attributed to the art object.
Florian Schmidt’s is an artist committed to detail, his work abounds with it, as do so many decisions that are creatives and formals. His details are only considered as such in his workflow, and do not result in a holistic theory. Simultaneously, they are “naturally” meaningful in the theoretical frame of the medium. This frontal, almost pragmatic, approach without generalization in creating his art paradoxically makes it elusive. Florian Schmidt has no determined system -- only useful, fruitful systems.
