The exhibition opening took place on Friday 3 March from 5.30pm. Artist Dan Dickhof and Florence Parot (curator Centre Pompidou, tutor Dirty Art Department Sandberg Instituut) spoke during the opening.
WOW Artists in Residence Xavier Robles de Medina and Clément Carat present X-C in the Green Gallery, an exhibition that aims to explore the artists’ relationship as neighbours in WOW through a confrontation of their respective practices.
The idea for this exhibition originated from a deep respect between the two young artists, and a desire to explore the boundaries of their work. Xavier’s drawings, in between dream and photograph, are in sharp contrast with Clément’s images, which shine a new light on everyday objects with his etching technique. Departing from this opposition the two artists will try to reach a middle point, not only through familiar techniques but also through experiment.
The exhibition becomes an experimental ground in which both artists deepen their dialogue as young artists in residence, and explore further their position in the current developments of the art world.
Clément Carat (website)
Clément (1991 Paris, France), is a multi-media artist working in sculpture, performance, drawings and video. He recently graduated from the Sandberg Instituut where he participated in the System D Master’s program. During the course of his studies, he researched informal systems, economies, and strategies, in particular how to apply those concepts in Western Society in order to re-activate modern, non-industrial technological utopias.
In relation to this research, he wrote an essay reportage in South-West Texas on the improvised solutions and informal strategies by which illegal Mexican immigrants attempt to cross the highly secured US border. His work frequently builds on a strong fascination with movement, technology and vehicles and the manner in which these phenomena collide with people who are excluded or exclude themselves from art practices, e.g. workmen, mechanics, old people. For his graduation thesis, he built the first Canvas Car in the world, simply by using informal economies – in other words, by trading his time and knowledge for material and expertise. One of Clément’s main tendencies is to shed light on the poetic forms in places, environments, and stories that are not necessarily considered Aesthetic.
His work has been exhibited at the Gallery Télétérités (Budapest, Hungary), at the University of Utrecht (the Netherlands), at the Marfa Summer School (Texas, US), and at the Wandering school (Milan, Italy). He is currently a resident at WOW Amsterdam and working on a project with the Tram Museum of Amsterdam. Clément is also scheduled to participate in the artist residency program Block 21 in Rustavi (Georgia), for which he is planning a work around illegal drifting car races.
Xavier Robles de Medina (website)
Xavier’s (1990 Paramaribo, Suriname) sensibilities are deeply rooted in an observational drawing practice as well as an objective dissection of the painting as a three-dimensional object. He questions social and artistic categorisations, in search for a truth regarding his identity as it relates to the painting tradition. His studio practice in Amsterdam, where he currently lives and works, allows him to be at once close to, and removed from, his native Surinamese and Dutch heritage.
He is currently studying the visual cues and contextual idiosyncrasies within the photographs and documentary films of Surinam’s past and present history. In 2015 Xavier was the youngest ever nominee for the Prix de Rome and also completed a residency program at the CTG: Zimbabwe residency.
In 2016 his drawing En het donker duurde een volle nacht granted him a spot on the short-list for the Royal Award for Painting, the most prestigious prize for Painting in the Netherlands. Xavier’s first solo exhibition If you dream of your tongue, beware is currently on view at Catinca Tabacaru Gallery (until 19 February). He is also currently participating in the group exhibition While Meditating on War at CBK Zuidoost, Amsterdam (until 11 March).
Check out this Forbes article on Xavier’s New York solo.
