LA PROCHAINE FOIS, LE FEU

As a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna under the tutelage of Daniel Richter, Alexandre Diop anchored his artistic approach in painting and sculpture, with a particular interest in the materiality of the elements used, most often found in his surrounding environment. The artist explores the theme of African identity, which follows in the footsteps of great artists including his mentor Kehinde Wiley. Diop’s work has been showcased in exhibitions in Italy, Austria and the United States, and in several international collections as well.

Through an exhibition at the Acacias Art Center, this book reveals a rich plastic dialogue between a young talent from the French art scene and an international figure of contemporary art. It also relates, through a series of texts and photographic archives, the creative process of a young autodidact artist, who through large format materializes his work in multiple techniques.

Laure Prouvost's immersive films, installations, drawings and wallpapers, combining the representation of desire, onirism and a fantasized description of nature, jeopardize our relationship to language and understanding through the intrication of complex narratives and surrealist moments that feed her unusual approach to the conventions of cinema and image.

It strives to make visible the unimportant objects, those that the consumer system that governs our daily lives has left behind: residues, rubbish, broken or dysfunctional objects, unloved. You Are My Petrol, My Drive, My Dream, My Exhaust reveals the two sides of the same coin, through a diptych of videos that were presented through a resin-based installation, objects such as relics, a motorcycle, an LED or a vodka bar evoking the two environments, one rural and French, the other urban and American.

From the body-object to the body-subject, from the figurative body to the imprint of a body, from a dream body to a digital avatar body, it is not just a question of freely and opening describing the body, but also of creating the possibility of looking at it in a new way, with total freedom.

Curated by Reiffers Art Initiatives committee member Thibaut Wychowanok, the exhibition's body of work questions the representation and fluctuating materiality of the body and celebrates its diversity, struggles and contemporary emancipation.

It also features a set of illustrations including images from the exhibition and details on each piece. It is not only a complete visual summary of Reiffers Art Initiatives’ first collective exhibition but also an invitation to explore the body’s possibilities.

Also, a meeting with Alexandre Mattiussi, founder of the AMI label, who talks about his latest collection; the pictorial cosmogonies of the American artist Ouattara Watts at the Cécile Fakhoury gallery; Vincent Fecteau, a sculptor with a passion for enigmatic forms; an interview with Adam Linder, the choreographer who brings dance into the exhibition space; and fashion series by Cho Gi-Seok, Koto Bolofo, Yulia Gorbachenko, Rory van Millingen, Elina Kechicheva and Txema Yeste.