059 Eric Baudart
Eric Baudart 'More' Exhibition Panorama
056 Eric Baudart Vinci 2013 Paillaisson, silicone, acier, 100 x 196 cm
Vinci Paillaisson, silicone, acier, 100 x 196 cm 2013
054 Eric Baudart Concave 157 x 210 x 50 cm 2013 affiches, peinture aérosol, châssis aluminium
Concave 157 x 210 x 50 cm 2013 affiches, peinture aérosol, châssis aluminium 2013
055 Eric Baudart Cubikron 2.0 116,5 x 95 x 95 cm 2013 plastique alvéolaire
Cubikron 2.0 116,5 x 95 x 95 cm plastique alvéolaire 2013
057 Eric Baudart Sans titre 153 x 47 x 43 cm 2013 film étirable sur rouleau de carton, sangle, attache métalique
Untitled 153 x 47 x 43 cm stretch film on cardboard roll, strap, metal fastener 2013

Venue: Valentin Gallery | Dates: September 7 to October 12 | Text and Photos by Chen Chi-Hsiang

Eric Baudart (born 1972) is a young French artist skilled in appropriating and transforming ready-mades, ranging from flat photography to object-sculptures and installations. The ready-made has become a tradition in contemporary art, serving as a visual and conceptual medium, as well as an object-sculpture and installation construct and display piece in today’s diverse forms. Under the great tradition of Duchamp’s ready-mades, Eric Baudart opens up new horizons, creating his own personal world by transforming imagery and compiling texts, intending to contrast ready-mades with photographic images.

In this new solo exhibition, simple objects from daily life are transformed into magical signifiers; each work displays his unique language and references. For example, “Vinci,” a doormat used for wiping feet, is hung to become a dramatic abstract painting of a starry sky, full of imaginative space that makes the eyes disappear into an unreachable world. Another work, “Concave,” consists of dozens of gold-painted posters stacked into a book-like painting, resembling a monochrome facade painting. Its symbolic and allegorical gold color awakens mysterious hues and extraordinary imagination. “Safe-cover” features a gray-blue, weathered, peeling checkered board with an accidental missing corner and traces of text and time, resembling a lyrical color-field abstraction. These three works operate under the charter of object-painting, presenting enigmatic objects of behavior and attitude, inviting viewers to open their wise eyes and enter an unknown world beyond the object’s context through a tunnel of time and space.

On the floor lies a simple, faded laundry detergent box titled “Skip,” appearing like an unreal image under the marks of time, presenting the imprint of time. A transparent plastic honeycomb geometric pedestal, “Cubikron 2,” features perfect facade volume cuts and rich abstract geometric lines on all four sides, creating rhythmic forms, enriching visuality, and evoking infinite imaginative space. Another captivating work, “Untitled,” consists of five long transparent plastic tubes gathered together by red ropes. Within the realm of object-sculpture-installation, it transforms reality from the simplest form into the most complex, where reality becomes an image, emitting infinite perception and reverie.