Servane Mary: Remakes 2006-2018

January 25, 2019

by: JOAN

March 3-April 14, 2019
Opening Reception & Edition Launch: Saturday, March 2, 2019, 6-8pm
* Servane Mary & Sylvère Lotringer will be present for the launch of their new limited edition print by rockypoint Press.

Book Launch: Friday, April 12, 2019, 6-9pm
Introducing Servane Mary’s new monograph published by Pacific which includes a conversation with Bob Nickas and texts by John Miller and Vincent Pecoil.

JOAN is pleased to present Servane Mary: Remakes 2006-2018, a collection of works appropriating press images of iconic women from the 1940s to the 1970s printed onto cotton, silk, mylar blankets, glass, mirror, and metal.

Describing her work, Mary has said:
“I am working with appropriated press images of women from the 1940s, to the ’70s, some of whom are heroes of mine, some who are seen as anti-heroes, who are often misunderstood or mis-represented. This act of “re-figuration” explores the connections between representation, identity, history and memory, and in which I treat photographs as physical entities. They reveal traces of the passage of time, fading and deterioration, a surface that parallels our own recollection and the human mind. They are carried on materials and supports that encourage a reevaluation of the subjects, allow for the inclusion of the viewer, and destabilize the idea of a fixed position vis-a-vis our place in the world.

I am not so much interested in exposing the mechanics of the image-making industry as in establishing a ‘subjective encyclopedia,’ one that is experienced by way of numerous material associations and the female body—scarves, veils, hosiery, leggings, negligees, and so on. These create a “second skin” for images of the “second sex.” The blankets are associated with maternal care, while the use of fabric in long, hanging sections relates to political banners. When the material remains light and semi-transparent, the viewer is encouraged to consider how visual information today is permeable, a curtain behind which meaning ultimately resides.”

Servane Mary is a French-born artist who works with appropriated press images of women from the 1940s to the ’70s. Her work has been included in numerous exhibitions including the Swiss Institute and the Abrons Arts Center, New-York. She had solo exhibitions at Kayne Griffin Corcoran gallery, Los Angeles, Triple V Gallery, Paris, France and A Palazzo Gallery, Brescia, Italy. Her work is represented in the permanent Schwartz Art Collection at Harvard Business School, Boston; the Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain (FRAC), Franche Comte, France; and the Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain (FRAC), Ile-de-France, France. She currently works and lives in New York.

Image: Servane Mary, Untitled (Mariel Hemingway dancing, burned piece), 2011. Solvent transfer and mixed media on silk, 22 x 31 inches

Installation view of Servane Mary: Remakes 2006-2018. March 3 – April 14, 2019 at JOAN, Los Angeles

Categories: 2018, Past