Gate
/2023
"Elsewhere" features a group of LA-based artists that have worked with, and or, inspired Yann Perreau. Each artist was asked to reflect on the notion of “Elsewhere” and its personal significance. The theme originates from quotes by two of Yann’s influences, French-Czech novelist Milan Kundera and Surrealist artist André Breton. The phrases “La vie est ailleurs”,translating to “Life is elsewhere”, in Kundera's 1973 eponymous novel, and Breton’s “It is living and ceasing to live that are imaginary solutions. Existence is elsewhere”, bring life to this abstracted place of being.In 2011, Yann established the project space Here Is Elsewhere in the Pacific Design Center.Exhibiting both local and international artists, the gallery’s objective aimed to create discourse, linking the artists and disregarding location. After ten years of traveling the globe, elsewhere atShow Gallery will be Yann’s first exhibition back in Los Angeles.“The answers I got from the artists I sent these quotes to surprised me in many ways”, explains the curator. “They reveal how a place can be a physical setting or a mental and emotional space within us, bringing us to unexpected destinations. While some of the artists chose dream like, utopian, surreal landscapes (Alexander Kroll, Kim Schoenstadt, Harry Gamboa Jr.), others focus on the longing to go elsewhere (Barbara Carrasco, John Divola, Eric Ernest Johnson), an eternal desire to be “anywhere, out of this world” as Charles Baudelaire suggested (Amanda Beech).Others picked works that carry metaphysical value (Yacnoy Abreu Dutour, Vanessa Atlan, Robert Schwan) or can be seen as an entrance to another dimension (Seffa Klein, Gregory Weingarten).As an artist offers a solution for the future of our planet (David Quadrini), another (Francesca Gabbiani- Ruscha) reminds us of what’s constantly happening elsewhere, with global warming.Or it can remain an enigma (Percival Everett), irrepresentable, even unreachable. Ultimately all these works address the struggle between the visible and the invisible which is, since Paul Cézanne, at the very core of modern and contemporary art.”
LA-based Afro-cuban and French choreographer and visual artist, Yacnoy Abreu Dutour’s gestures defy the boundaries of bodily movement. Inspired by Chinese calligraphy and abstract expressionism, he manifests static beauty into dance. His performance, “Gate” will be sure to encapsulate and transport the viewer elsewhere. Show Gallery is an art gallery and artist residency located in the heart of Hollywood which showcases local and international contemporary artists. Show Gallery was created by platinum selling recording artist Poe and John Gheur, founder of Signature Creative, in collaboration with curator Margot Ross.
Text by Yann Perreau
Gate (Paintformance) - 2023 / Sand on foam board / 60 x 40 ¼ inches