THAT'S IT!
MANUEL SALVAT & THOMAS JOCHER
with ROMAIN BAUJARD
and HERVÉ HUMBERT
Opening THU, MAY 11, 2017, 7 – 10 pm
Exhibition: MAY 12 — JUNE 3, 2017
open hours THU – SAT, 3 – 7 pm
Press Release
Thomas Jocher, Romain Baujard and Hervé Humbert present the exhibition That’s
It! as an homage to their recently departed friend, the artist Manuel Salvat.
Starting in 2011, Manuel Salvat and Thomas Jocher staged several joint
exhibitions. At their last show in Vienna, Pierre Granoux invited them to
develop a new project for Lage Egal in Berlin.
Shortly thereafter, Manuel Salvat disappeared. Thomas Jocher found himself
confronted with an unprecedented challenge: how to stage a joint exhibition
alone. He decided to ask Romain Baujard and Hervé Humbert, friends of M.S.
and supporters of his work, to accompany him in this undertaking.
In March 2017, the three artists traveled to Arles and headed to the workshop
of M.S. to begin with preparations for the show. Given their preference for a
collaborative project over a monographic exhibition, they set aside the
finished and identified works and focused instead on fragments and scraps.
These bits would serve as material for a sculpture through which the work of
M.S. could be prolonged.
In an effort to facilitate the selection process, they agreed to discard all
elements that had not been transformed in the hands of M.S. They deposited a
portion in the adjacent canal, capturing the objects’ drift in a first film.
The remaining elements fed a large fire, which they filmed in its entirety.
This exhibition stems from the artists’ desire to disseminate and invigorate
the work of Manuel Salvat. It is the first in a series of exhibitions that
will continue in October 2017 at the Galerie du Tableau in Marseilles and in
January 2018 at the Archbishop’s Palace in Arles.
