Philippe Parreno

Cahiers d’Art is pleased to announce a new presentation of works by Philippe Parreno, exhibited across both its spaces at 14 and 15 rue du Dragon 75006, Paris. Featuring revisitations of two of Parreno’s most prominent series, Iceman in Reality Park and Marquee, this presentation of works coincides with the launch of the next publication of La Revue, dedicated to and created in partnership with the Artist. 

Inside Cahiers d’Art’s gallery space 15 rue du Dragon is installed Iceman in Reality Park, a new iteration of the work first created in 1995 for the group exhibition “Ripple Across the Water” curated by Jan Hoet in Tokyo. At the time of the exhibition, every day before lunch, in the private park of the Kirin Brewery Company in Minami Aoyama where employees gathered to eat, a refrigerated truck delivered an ice sculpture of a snowman. Every day the sculpture melted and was replaced the next day. The series has since reappeared in different locations and through various forms. For Cahiers d’Art, Philippe Parreno has installed three new iterations of his series, this time mixing earth with ice, giving them an earthen core and echoing David Lynch’s famous snowmen pictures.

Across the street, 14 rue du Dragon, a Marquee (2021) illuminates Cahiers d’Art’s historic space. First created in 2006 for Parreno’s exhibition “Interior Cartoons” at Esther Schipper in Berlin, the series draws inspiration from the luminous signs which hung over the entrances to American movie theatres in the 1950s to advertise films. For the Artist, a Marquee is an intervention in the display space that introduces the possibility of an event; no longer advertising a cinematographic show but still suggesting the presence of cinema, the Marquee becomes an indicator, a label or naming device.

The particular Marquee (2021) at Cahiers d’Art is distinct within its overarching series because of the inversion of the piece’s light source. The permeating glow emanates from deep within the Marquee, as opposed to the exterior light bulbs illuminating the overhanging fixture as is usually the case. The work stems from the 1953 novel Mount Analogue by French author René Doumal. Philippe Parreno transcribed the novel into pure colour using various algorithms to create the chromatic choreography for the Marquee.