Rero Opened his first Solo Exhibition of 2015 at Fabien Castanier Gallery in Los Angeles over the weekend. The exhibition titled “Gated Community” showcased many familiar themes in the artists work as well as some larger installation pieces. A mixed media installation and a sculptural series of book pieces were also exhibited. The press release states that the artist is at the “forefront of an urban conceptual experience,” which would explain the direction takes with his recent work. Leading up to the show I was getting updates of Rero’s insitu installations in the desert and Salton Sea. The photographs documented the artists interventions and interaction with the landscape. With his signature striked through phrases and words Rero alters the landscape with his statements. The photographs are a trace of this intervention documenting those moments that influenced much of the work exhibited.
Looking over the work you see familiar series of lasercut phrases mounted against similar colors, white on white, black on black, wood on wood. These pieces stand a dark contrast to the work of the desert whose juxtaposition of word and landscape is much more prevalent. The large installation pieces seem to reflect more on the deserts influence, and are more effective in capturing the energy of what might be the urban conceptual experience. It is this work that lends itself more to contemporary means of execution such as the installation and sculpture. I think the most powerful work was not the paintings or sculptures but instead the urban insitu installations and photographs shared before the show. Photographic documentation that ended up being an important aspect of the whole conceptual urban experience. All around a great show that continues to show Rero push into a more contemporary space with his work, and once again broaden the push of Urban art.
GF
Photo Credit http://www.the1point8.com/
Solo Exhibition by RERO
OPENING RECEPTION | Saturday, January 24th 6-9pm
Fabien Castanier Gallery is proud to present the first show of 2015, a solo exhibition by the French artist RERO. This will be the second exhibition for the artist in the United States and at the gallery.
RERO presents new work for GATED COMMUNITY…, examining the global proliferation of social and urban partitioning within modern society, through paintings on canvas, mixed media on wood, pieces on vintage books, sculptures, a multi-media video installation and more. While instantly recognizable from his distinctive visual style, his work contains within it an inherent fluidity as he explores myriad concepts.
“The first man who, having enclosed a piece of land, thought of saying ‘This is mine,’ and found people easy enough to believe him, was the true founder of civil society.” – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
For this exhibition, RERO aims to confront the barriers that define the spaces we inhabit, dissolving the rifts between the visible and the invisible, the secular and the sacred, text and their context. As he breaks down these links, the artist explores the effects of modern communication and movement which make delineating borders less and less pronounced. He proposes, “We are more and more frequently in transit between two places, between two properties. Between these two well-defined contexts there is the crossing, the transit – these non-places, these interchangeable spaces where the human remains anonymous as Marc Augé defines it.”
“One must escape the alternative of the outside or the inside. One must be at the borders.” – Michel Foucault
This exhibition comes after a successful year for the artist, having extended his practice in 2014 to major international institutions, from The Centre Pompidou museum in Paris to the Caixa Cultural program in Brazil. GATED COMMUNITY… sees RERO embrace an evolving aesthetic, while staying true to his conceptual vision.
RERO’s entire body of work, shown around the world, is interconnected and constantly in metamorphosis. GATED COMMUNITY… is the culmination of the artist’s exploration on the borders of “urban” and “nature,” as he pulls inspiration from the natural landscape, specifically that of the California desert. Having developed a fascination with the relationship between the exterior and interior realms and the boundaries that define them, RERO continues to place himself at the forefront of the urban conceptual experience.
