PUBLISHED November 25th, 2014 01:20 pm | UPDATED May 9th, 2018 03:13 am
Partners & Mucciaccia is pleased to present a retrospective exhibition of Jacques Villeglé, one of the
most important living French artists, curated by Dominique Stella. As the only French artist whom
the New York Museum of Modern Art dedicates an exhibition to, his works are widely exhibited in
museums and galleries around world, notably MoMa (New York), Tate Gallery (London) and Centre
Pompidou (Paris). In 2008, Musée National d’Art Moderne at Centre Pompidou consecrates his
works with an important retrospective. Currently, his works are being exhibited at Musée Tinguely
in Basel and will be continuing his next exhibition at Schirn Kunsthalle of Frankfurt.
Jacques Villeglé’s exhibition at Partners & Mucciaccia will showcase the Nouveau Réalisme of the
artist’s works, through a retrospective made by more than 50 artworks, from the ‘décollages
d’affiches’ of the Sixties to the lasts ripped posters realized in the 2000, including his recent works
elaborated with his socio-politics signs technique. This exhibition highlights the innovative nature
of the ‘recycling techniques’, the artist’s favourite, which allows him the possibility of understanding
the world by an anarchic and poetic interpretation. He stole from the urban culture a piece of living
matter and in return, he gives it back to us under the form of a canvas. Consequentially, an extremely
different and original language is born.
During 1949 in Paris, Jacques Villeglé and his friend, Raymond Hains, had the idea to take hold of
ordinary matter such as posters and invented the ‘décollage’: the appropriation of ripped posters.
The artist chooses an object to rip for several reasons: the matter, the subject, the image, and the
chromaticism. The gesture of appropriation, serving the gaze, is often quick and even violent.
Jacques captures and steals what the eye notices then tosses them onto his plunder, like a predator
does with his prey.
In 1961, his works are identified as the Nouveau Réalisme movement. For most, Villeglé is a Nouveau
Réaliste artist, rather than an affichist, a term that characterize the use of a matter posted up as a
creative vehicle, often associated with Raymond Hains, François Dufrêne and Mimmo Rotella.
Historians categorize this crucial implication as the essential pinnacle for the artist career. His
involvement in affichistes group represents the base of his adventure, mixed with the story of the
Nouveau Réalisme movement, to which he participate in a decisive way.
Jacques Villeglé’s journey as an artist is coloured with various phases. Starting with a Jacques
Villeglé before the affichistes (1948-1960, when he starts working with Raymond Hains); a Jacques
Villeglé as part of the Nouveaux Réalistes group (1960-1968) and a Jacques Villeglé who isindependent and free, focus on a research made by himself, starting from the ripped posters he took
over time from the streets of Paris, Buenos Aires and other places. Villeglé is a living witness of
urban art but it does not deny him a clear work around specific themes, always introducing new
interpretations of the time.
Up till 2000, Jacques Villeglé has continued on catching posters. He invented a new technique called
‘socio-politics signs’. This technique allows him to explain the world through a personal language
that transfigures the ordinary reality in an odd and colourful novel about the world.
For more information, visit their website [here](http://www.partnersandmucciaccia.com)
Gallery Openings:
12.00pm – 7.00 pm, Tuesday to Fridays
11.00 am – 7.00 pm, Saturdays
12.00pm – 6.00pm, Sundays
Closed on Mondays & Public Holidays