John Armleder: Jacques Garcia

A unique, collaborative project between John Armleder and Jacques Garcia is on view at the Centre Cultural de Suisse. Armleder, is a contemporary artist based in Switzerland, who applies conceptual methods to his large-scale installations. For Armleder, the artwork can be finished conceptually before ever being produced. Jacques Garcia is one of the top interior designers in Paris, working on such projects as the Hotel Costes and Laduree in Paris, and has private clients including the Sultan of Brunei.

In this installation, Armleder takes his conceptual practice one step further by inviting Garcia to completely decorate the interiors in the upper floors of the institution. For Armleder this is a conceptual study into Ornamentation. Garcia constructs a dining room, salon and bedroom using elements of ornamentation and design ranging from Orientalism, neo-gothic, minimalism and ancient Egypt. The result is a surreal walk into a another universe- one fears of the reality of this existing in a serious manner somewhere in the upper east side of Manhattan or in along the outer reaches of the 16th in Paris. It’s gluttony revisited from the tiger rug that still has it’s head on, Helmut Newton photographs, a big, sumptuous bed (which we are told not to lie before we enter the space), and decorative objects all around. Visitors are invited to sit in the chairs and read the selection of art books and auction catalogs that are scattered around. As the press release states, “ Armleder uses the signature style of Garcia like a ready-made, nothing that it is “the observer who makes the work,” while Garcia responds with a mirror note saying it is “the client who makes the décor.”

Centre Culturel de Suisse, 32 et 38, rue des Francs-Bourgeois, www.ccsparis.com