THEO MERCIER SOLO SHOW at ENVOY GALLERY NEW YORK - Interview by Graham Tabor

French photography, collage and installation artist Theo Mercier, will open his first solo show titled ³OIL NOW², on June 4th at the Envoy Gallery in New York City¹s Lower East Side.

Since finishing his studies at the Ecole Nationale Superieure de Creation Industrielle in Paris and the Universitat der Kunste Berlin, Mercier has already collaborated with Bernhard Willhelm, creating look books and invitations for Willhelm’s runway show, worked in the New York atelier of Matthew Barney as well as showing in group shows in New York, Prague, Paris, Moscow and Riga.

Mercier currently divides his time between, New York, Berlin and his native Paris.  Moving between the three urban environments and the different lives he leads is central to his work, as it is from the fabric of the daily life he constructs within these cities that he pulls the raw materials for his visual narratives.  Scouring the flea markets, streets and second hand shops, Mercier rescues our forgotten and neglected objects transforming them into things of mythological proportions

Breaking apart the conventional logic and connotations of the objects he selects, Mercier imbues them with the aura of the fantastical, allowing them to live a story and life beyond their meager origins.

GT:  What is the significance of the title “OIL NOW” and how does the upcoming exhibition at Envoy Gallery relate to your installation in Paris at the Salon Montrouge group show last April, also titled “OIL NOW”.

TM:
something vulgar
like a fat depression starving for oil
a call to greasy rebellion
need for no need NOW!

"OIL NOW" part 2 is based on the same aesthetic as the previous show in Paris.  All the work of that show plays with this sort of rock n roll style, with its vulgarity, violence and its power.  There is something really direct and frontal in the image of usual rock music and it's this obvious intensity that I'm trying to reach in my work.

GT:  Over the past few years, you’ve split your time between Paris, New York and Berlin.  Why did you choose these cities?  How have each of the geographies informed your work and how has it changed as you’ve moved from city to city?

TM: To really get into my work it's important to know when and where it has been done.  I went to these cities. I started to build a little life in the big life there.  I tried to exist in the city.  My work always represents this mini edifice inspired by the city.

GT:  A lot of your work after finishing your studies was in 2-dimensions: illustration, collage, photography, but your more recent work and your upcoming show in New York are installations.  How do the different media relate in your work?  Is there any progression or are you moving back and forth between the two?

TM:  I like the idea of a dialogue between medias. I tell a lot of stories about object and spaces with photography.  A lot of my first works was pictures of installations, sculptures...but it was mainly because of economical, technical reasons.

Now I use media more as a tool.  The media depends of the story: of how i want to tell it and what kind of connection I want create between the viewer and the piece.

GT:  What are the next projects we can expect from the atelier of Theo Mercier?

TM:  My next show will be in September in Riga with Evelina Deicmane- a group show around the idea idea of the survival kit.  Then I’ll show at FIAC in Paris during october.
After that, my first solo show in Paris will be at the "Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature".

 

THEO MERCIER "OIL NOW"
In collaboration with Colin Johnco
06.04.09 - 07.12.09
Opening: 06.04.09  6-8PM
ENVOY GALLERY 131 Chrystie St.
Www.envoyenterprises.com

http://theomercier.free.fr/

Text: Graham Tabor
Copy Editing: Phyllis McMillen
All Images are the work of Théo Mercier