Guillaume Leblon

Under My Shoe

Incorporating familiar materials and objects into his sculptures, from metal to plywood, rope, and shelving, Leblon creates wonderfully enigmatic constructions and combinations. The works possess both a seductive material presence and an elegant formalism while prompting a flood of poetic associations. While they remain open to multiple readings, the sculptures often conjure images of ruin and the passage of time—both in their stature and in the visible effects of forces such as gravity, wind, and weather. Probabilité pour que rien ne se passe (Probability that nothing will happen), 2011, a deconstructed apothecary shelf resting on a pile of sand, brings to mind a fragment excavated from an archeological expedition. Réplique de la chose absente (Replica of a thing which is not there), 2009, conjures an impossible architectural remnant cobbled together from memory. Leblon’s

materials range from fragile to solid, from humble to opulent, as he explores the tension between the precious and the overlooked. He is attracted to the wear and tear and decay of things, and the histories which they represent. Framing his individual pieces within a larger narrative—and, by extension, a longer trajectory of time—Leblon carefully choreo-graphs his works within the space where they are shown, slowing down the rate at which we take them in. For Under My Shoe, the artist has opened up the museum’s W.L.S. Spencer galleries to create a large single space, punctu-ated by the building’s original columns, a kind of modern-day ruin themselves. Arranging his works into a constellation, Leblon subtly guides the visitors’ navigation of the gallery while also granting them a certain freedom. He has covered the floor in a linen carpet, which, over the course of the exhibition, will track and

Nouvel Ange (le poète marocain), 2013. Plaster, wool fiber. 78.74 x 115.35 inches (200 x 293 cm). Courtesy the artist and Galerie Jocelyn Wolff, Paris. Photo: François Doury

record the movements of visitors through the show, revealing pathways and other traces of their presence. Leblon has compared both his own creative process and the visitor’s experience in the exhibition to that of a stroll through the landscape, emphasizing the accumulation of inspirations, ideas, and memories that a walk can provoke. Leblon’s conception of the gallery space can be compared to the layout of 18th-century English gardens in miniature. These picturesque parks replaced the traditional formal French garden with a more natural design that allows for meandering walks and a communion with the seemingly unfettered power of nature. They also offered a series of theatrical vistas and intimate moments of discovery, much like Leblon presents in the gallery. Architectural follies, based on Greek temples and Egyptian pyramids added to both

the amusement and enlightenment of visitors to gardens such as Désert de Retz and Parc Monceau.* Leblon similarly allows for surprises in the experience of his work—as well as moments of contemplation amongst reminders of the great monuments of the past. In its noble, vertical composition, Reversibilité, 2009, recalls a Greek statue or a traditional equestrian monument. A plastilene leg—perched on a shelf at the height where a rider’s might fall—offers a hint of a missing fig-ure. With this absence of the heroic protagonist, the work seems to function as a monument to the everyday—pictured in the rather mundane remnants from the studio that complete the piece. Titled after a poem by Baudelaire which compares the imperfections of the human condition to the beauty and goodness of angels, Leblon’s work similarly grapples with the gulf—as well as the relationship—between the everyday and a higher realm. With his Chrysocale series (chrysocale is an alloy of copper, zinc, and tin), the artist weaves and welds metal ribbons around commonplace articles ranging from a large mirror (Grand chrysocale miroir, 2007) to a stack of French daily newspapers (Chrysocale le Monde, 2012). For a new work made for MASS MoCA, the artist has enshrouded a mattress, sheets, and pillows. Preserving these reminders of our daily existence as relics, Leblon elevates both the objects and their role in the simplest of human moments to a state worthy of contem-plation. The influence of Egyptian culture is felt in many of the artist’s works, including these, which reference the custom of burying the dead with common household objects needed in the afterlife. Leblon is fascinated by this interchange between the exceptional and the banal. His series of plaster reliefs also refers to historical precedents. Leblon creates ghost-like impressions of the human figure in large panels

Chrysocale le Monde, 2012. Newspaper, alloy of copper, zinc, and tin.70.87 x 13.78 x 9.84 inches (180 x 35 x 25 cm). Courtesy the artist and Galerie Jocelyn Wolff, Paris. Photo: François Doury

by pressing clothing into the material when wet. The traces left behind seem to equate the most formal customs of recording the triumphs of human effort with mere accidents of fate. While Leblon’s sculptures seem to bring the past and present into contact, they also attempt to keep time—and its ravages—at bay. The specter of our mortality, which subtly haunts all of the artist’s works, is at once embraced and held off. With his Sea Brass series, Leblon presents his materials in a state of suspended animation. To create the works, the artist poured molten brass onto a towel draped on a bed of shells and sand. The organic materials and other debris mix with the liquid and take on the appearance of fossils. In its final static state, the liquid nonetheless retains the bubbling, swirling appearance of its former movement,

the mundane towel and its bright colors enshrined beneath given a new significance. The works suggest the endurance of nature and ecological processes, recording the passage of time on a geological scale that surpasses the record of human history which Leblon’s other works conjure. Visitors to the exhibition engage with this history on an intimate scale each time they walk through the gallery, confronted with the prospect of both walking in the footsteps of those who have come before and leaving their own mark.

Susan Cross Curator

* These indulgences of the aristocracy evolved into the public park, where a cross section of society could share a similar physical and philosophical experience—not unlike the contemporary museum.

Probabilité pour que rien ne se passe (Probability that nothing will happen), 2011. Wood, steel, glass, plastic, sand, clay. 35.43 x 149.61 x 33.86 inches (90 x 380 x 86 cm). Courtesy the artist and Galerie Jocelyn Wolff, Paris. Photo: Marc Domage / Fondation d’enterprise Ricard

Guillaume Leblon: Under My ShoeMay 26, 2013–April 6, 2014

This exhibition is supported by Étant donnés, the French-American Fund for Contemporary Art, with additional funding provided by the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Air France, and Elisabeth & Robert Wilmers.

1040 MASS MoCA WayNorth Adams, MA 01247413.MoCA.111massmoca.org

Born in Lille, France, in 1971, Guillaume Leblon lives and works in Paris. He graduated from the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Lyon in 1997 and was in residency at the Rijksakademie Amsterdam between 1999 and 2000. His work has been exhibited in numerous distinguished institutions throughout Europe. This is the artist’s first solo exhibition in a U.S. museum.

cover: Réversibilité, 2009Metal, cardboard, plywood, brass, plastilene, glass, and various materials94.49 x 35.43 x 17.72 inches (240 x 90 x 45 cm)Private collection. Courtesy the artist and Galerie Jocelyn Wolff, Paris.photo: Marc Domage

interior flap: Sea Brass (Fish), 2012Brass, sand, towel, and shells57 x 31.5 inches (145 x 80 cm)Courtesy the artist and ProjecteSD, Barcelona.photo: Blaise Aldon