Pierre Bismuth. NEON, MIRROR AND GOLD

The exhibition “Neon, Mirror and Gold”, third solo show of Pierre Bismuth in Galleria Sonia Rosso, will focus on recovery, re-invention and re-cycle of different materials.

Always interested in the investigation of our culture and its expressions, Bismuth associates the recovery of leftovers to a further bait to explore reality trough materials of everyday use. Materials used by Bismuth belong to the category of “noble” ones such as mirrors, neon and gold.

A series of multicoloured neon tubes, made up by fragments of old neon lamps, have been assembled for this exhibition. Following a typical procedure related to conceptual art, in which the realization of the work of art is prerogative of a third party, the artesan (neonist) used remains and scraps from neon lights of different diameters, dimensions and colours. He assebled them in a completely random way, following the instinct more than specific indications by the artist or some stylistic choice.

The almost one hundred-year old mirror, instead, is open-worked by cutting circular shapes inside of it, recalling one of the most famous series by Pierre Bismuth titled Something less, Something more (2002-2006). The original mirror is so de-materialized, while fragments are recovered and exhibited by their matrix.

The aim to re-utilize gold, neon and mirrors could also be read as a reference to another element of contemporarity, that’s to say the financial crisis. The recycle of gold becomes a symbolic attempt of re-appropriation, or at least explicitation and open showing of what is perceived as “missing” by different sections of population.

With a subtle sense of humour, the work of Pierre Bismuth tries to destabilize those reading codes subjected to our culture and our system of symbols. His artistic procedures constitute a sabotage of the internal logic of objects and our way to perceive them. The observer is so driven first to an uncomfortable feeling, then to the development of a renewed critical consciousness.

Pierre Bismuth was born in 1963 in Paris. He lives and works in Brussels. His works have been exhibited in several museums like Villa Arson, Nice; Queensland Art Gallery; Santa Monica Museum of Modern Art; Kunstmuseum Thun; CAC, Vilnius; Sprengel Museum, Hannover; Kunsthalle Basel etc. Pierre Bismuth works with the following galleries: Jan Mot (Brussels), Cosmic (Paris), Team Gallery (New York), Christine Koenig (Wien).

Pierre Bismuth
NEON, MIRROR AND GOLD