Dominique Robin: Stone Puzzles from Tuscany’s Valdarno
and N.Y.’s Hudson Valley
Opening Thu, Mar 28, 2019, 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Exhibit continues through May 8.
Gallery hours: 9:30 am–5:30 pm (Monday–Friday)
Texts : Maria Stavrinaki (curator at Centre Pompidou), Michele Tavola (curator at Gallerie dell'Academia, Venezia)
Diane Bodart (Columbia University).
"In the exhibition “Stone Puzzles” Dominique Robin explores the projections of humankind on landscape and more generally on nature.COMPILATIONS AND OSCILLATIONS
During a recent stay in the Arno River valley in Tuscany, the artist gathered a collection of stones that had become fragmented over time, and made an artistic practice of re-assembling and disassembling them. With these ancestral forms (said by geologists at the University of Florence to be 70 million years old) Robin created a new group of works: carbon drawings, photographs, and a video in which a series of hands reconstruct the stones.
Later, in the Hudson Valley, Dominique Robin found other remarkable rocks, including black-spotted granite pieces that were broken by dynamite in a quarry in Cold Spring, (or by a jackhammer in a construction site in Manhattan. From these stones, Robin created a second set of drawings, photos, sculptures and an installation, entitled “Secret Words,” made with audience collaboration, in which a series of secrets are written by the visitors and obliterated with graphite penciling leaving just one remaining word. Among the mineral forms, then, a wall progressively displays illegible words with occasional fragments of secret thoughts.
Composed of various materials and shapes, the exhibition reflects on both the fragility of the world and the immensity of time, and on the earth itself, which is a huge puzzle composed of stardust but also of ephemeral and fragile materials and moments." Italian Academy, New York
http://blakegopnik.com/tagged/dominique-robin
TEXTS (ENGLISH):
FRENCH/ITALIAN
- Stone puzzles – il film- quasi una recensione di Michele Tavola, conservateur aux Galeries de l'Academie à Venise
See also
Around 30 works will be exhibited at the Italian Academy
The stones of this series were broken by time in a very long process
A- Video, 2015, "Stone puzzles", 24mn
The video shows hands trying to rebuild the stones.
B- Three photos 22 1⁄4 x 32in, Print on Hahnemühle paper
C- Wooden box (maple tree, 6x10x8in) with a stone, two postcards and one video file.
D- Five stones of the series "Stone puzzles"
The stones of this series were broken by dynamites and jackhammers in Cold Spring and in a constriction site in Manhattan. The stones from Manhattan are natural steel.
A- Photos
"Manhattan Hole" 20x13,35in. Print Epson Hot Press Natural
"Jackhammer" 13,35x9in. Print Epson Hot Press Natural
"Carry" 20x13,35in Print Epson Hot Press Natural
B- Four installations (series "4 days, 4 nights")
Tittle : "Mahicantuck" "Rock-bottom" "Magnetic" "Loose Rock")
(1) sculpture (assemblage of stones)
(2) photo of one stone of the sculpture (12x9in.)
(3) a drawing made with outlines of stones (20.1/2 x 26.1/2in. charcoal on paper)
(4) sometimes magnets
C- Installation
Tittle Secret Words,144x40in. The installation will be created during the exhibition. The public is invited to write -in one sentence- a secret on a paper (inside the outline of a stone). The words of every sentence are crossed out except for one.
3- Series Carbon Flower
Four drawings (46x32.1/2in.)
A series of concentric lines made only with carbon.
4- Series Oil / Motor oil drawings
A- "Oil". Two photos (reflection effects on motor oil, print on Hahnemühle paper, 38x26in)
B- "Motor oil drawings" Three drawings (motor oil and pencil on paper, 20x17in.)
Frames: Dominique Robin (assistant: Aaron Yule). Print: Sylvain Durand, New York
Ce projet de création et d'exposition a obtenu la bourse du Ministère de la Culture (DRAC Aquitaine)
ainsi que celle de la Région Aquitaine dite "Actions innovantes"
Thanks to Gaby Basora, Cleo Malca Nisse, Edward Perez, Óskar Arnórsson, Susan Pickford, Studio Francesco Messina (Milano)