This simple yet striking artwork consists of the word "DOCENT" rendered in large, bold text against a plain white background. The use of a single, prominent word highlights its visual impact and conceptual significance. The monochromatic color palette and minimalist composition create a sense of clarity and focus, inviting the viewer to contemplate the meaning and associations of the term "docent" - a museum educator who guides visitors. The artist's intention may be to draw attention to the role of the docent in mediating the art experience and engaging the public with cultural institutions. ...
Camille Blatrix’ machine-like sculptures are seemingly familiar yet alien in their futuristic appearance. Combining industrial manufacture with handmade craft and techniques, such as wood marquetry, they present themselves as artefacts encoded with personal and cultural references. The recognisable elements – a feather, cardboard boxes, a flower, production labels – intertwine with sleek surfaces and amorphous, novel shapes. Visually and conceptually, Blatrix’ works refer to a not-so-distant future, while the imagery of radios, ticket kiosks and phone booths refer a not- so-distant past. As a result, the works produce a dissociation with the present that is so slight it becomes uncanny. Contemplating on the nature of desire, labour and materiality, the artist’s sculptures are at once confusing and emotive, and immersive in their ability to create narratives that belong in their estrangement.
Written by Goldsmiths CCA ...
Balice Hertling was founded in 2007 by Daniele Balice and Alexander Hertling. Balice Hertling has hosted the debut solo shows of many artists like Camille Blatrix, Xinyi Cheng and Isabelle Cornaro—all of whom have gone on to earn widespread recognition. From 2012 to 2016, gallery founders Daniele Balice and Alexander Hertling operated a project space in Manhattan. Returning to France in 2017, they relocated the main gallery to Paris’ Marais district and transformed the former Belleville location into a space for curated projects and shows by younger artists. Indeed, many artists represented by the gallery exemplify unique subcommunities of the emergent art world. This breadth of representation also translates to a breadth of medium, as the gallery represents painters as well as artists working in mixed media such as film, performance and sculptural objects. The gallery also represents artists whose careers are more established : British conceptual artist Stephen Willats, Syrian-born painter and sculptor Simone Fattal, and Italian artist Enzo Cucchi. In its programming and practices, Balice Hertling constantly works toward creating a more diverse and equitable art landscape. In this spirit, the gallery is proud to represent the Estate of Behjat Sadr, who was the first woman artist to be recognized as a modern master in Iran. As a result of the pandemic, the gallery co-founded « Palai » in the summer of 2021, a yearly exhibition hosting a small group of galleries from around the world, in historic locations in Lecce, a city in Italy's Puglia region. Palai is neither a curated exhibition nor a fair, it is thought to be a version of a residency, a collegial collaboration, where artists, galleries, and friends of the art world come together. In 2021 Balice Hertling relocated and brought closer both spaces in the Marais with a new main space inaugurated by a Ser Serpas scultpure solo show, and a new showroom and project space on rue de Montmorency. ...
