At frst glance, this show seems of-putting, given the way that it looks like a linear succession of works, laid out in such a way that it is impossible to see more than one work by the same artist at the same time. This group show is akin to a musical score, with a series of soli without any choral efects. Yet the works have in common a connecting point, which it is far from easy to discern.

Our exhibition is bringing together artists from diferent generations. Born in the 1960s and 70s, they live and work respectively in Switzerland, France and New York. Despite this geographical gap, they share a real complicity, which has led them to conduct a large number of collaborative projects. Particular mention should be made of the duo FRANCIS BAUDEVIN and STEPHANE DAFFLON in 2000 at the Glassbox (Paris); the collaborative, anonymous project “No Pictures Available” (FRANCIS BAUDEVIN, STEPHANE DAFFLON, PHILIPPE DECRAUZAT) in 2008 at the Galerie Art & Essai (Rennes); the book Bbabaubaumbaudevin which in 2011 brought together work by ERICA BAUM and FRANCIS BAUDEVIN (Bureau, Circuit and Regency Arts Press); and, in 2016 BLAIR THURMAN, PHILIPPE DECRAUZAT, STEPHANE DAFFLON exhibited together at the Honolulu gallery (Zurich).

To pierce this exhibition’s secret, the starting point is the hanging plan. It is schematic and firts with being talismanic, in a rotating pattern providing a play of permutations, a movement which can be found formally and conceptually in all the artists in the show.

Philippe Decrauzat