PRESS RELEASE

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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June 29, 2011

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Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam – Galerie Quynh is pleased to present:



A Physical Obedience Of A Certain Geometry [Nihil Sublime] – an exhibition of new work by French artist Thierry Bernard-Gotteland.  

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This is Bernard-Gotteland’s first solo exhibition at the gallery.

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Bernard-Gotteland continues to draw on the mythologies of heavy metal music and culture to create this

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latest body of work.  His works are loaded with semiotic markers of defiance, destruction, order, control

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and power where social roles, cultural models and moral values are examined.  Installed in accordance

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to the Golden Mean, the works possess a symmetry and harmony that belies their violent and aggressive

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titles.  Incorporating text, image and sound, the exhibition is part intimate, domestic space, part aftermath

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of a live concert and part private fantasy.  A faux leather bed dangling from the ceiling, metal chains,

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paintings of viscous black enamel, stage lights arranged in a pentagram, text from Hollywood scripts

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fashioned with black duct tape, a tree branch bandaged with tape, the whirring sound of industrial

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fans whose movement creates discordant noise from a guitar lend the exhibition a sexy, sensual and

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forbidden atmosphere.





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​Untitled (A Bureaucratic Desire For Revenge)

 

20112011

enamel on canvas, cables, 40W light bulbs, guitar amplifier and 400W cabinet

 

variable dimensions

 

 

This installation is reminiscent of a recording studio.  An amplifier in the center of the room diffuses a

 

strange, droning sound originating from the upper floor of the gallery.  Five black canvases are fixed

 

to the ceiling, creating a confined and acoustic-like space.  Four additional canvases with dripping,

 

viscous black enamel are installed to resemble the logo of the American punk band Black Flag.









Untitled (Götterdämmerung Chamber Variation Tuned C.A.G.E.D.)​

 

 

electric guitar, black electrical tape, cable, 40W light bulb, standing fans

 

variable dimensions



 

A yellow cable winds along the stairs from the installation downstairs to the media room upstairs. 

 

Plugged into a guitar suspended from the ceiling, an amplifier diffuses the sound of the vibration of the

 

strings, flogged by long thick swathes of black tape activated by two fans.  Images of long-haired fans

 

and band members of heavy music wildly shaking their heads in rhythm come to mind.











Untitled (Hex or Printing in the Infernal Sentence Method)

 

 

MDF panels, enamel, electrical tape

 

244 x 122 cm each panel

 

 

 

Two glossy, black monochrome panels are facing each other, only revealing upon closer inspection

 

famous quotes from Hollywood movies fashioned with black electrical tape.  An imaginary conversation

 

seems to be taking place between the two walls.  Travis Bickle faces off with ‘Dirty’ Harry Callahan;

 

Judge Dredd speaks authoritatively to Casablanca’s Rick Blaine.   Power and bravado are on show

 

here, where defined structures governed by rules threatens our human integrity.











Untitled (The Soundless Dawn Came Alive as Cities Began to Mark the Horizon)​

 

 

black plexiglass, tree branch, black electrical tape, cables, 40W light bulbs, broken neon lights

 

variable dimensions

 

 

 

Partially covering the gallery windows, three glossy black panels reflect the confined exhibition space

 

while offering a glimpse onto the world outside.  A dead tree branch tightly wrapped in black electrical

 

tape lies on the floor, calling to mind a dark, Tim Burton-esqe universe. A tangle of cables mounted

 

with lights bulbs softly illuminates the gallery while the black lights on the ceiling add to the eerie

 

atmosphere. The black lights are similar to those used in a butcher shop to enhance the color of the

 

meat on display.











Untitled (Hook Meat Sodomy)

 

 

bed with plastic upholstery and frame, stainless steel chains

 

variable dimensions

 

 

 

A bed of ersatz leather, contorted and wrapped with stainless steel chains dangles from the ceiling. 

 

Reminiscent of a slab of meat in a butcher’s cold storage and a sadomasochist mise-en-scene,

 

the work provokes feelings of unease and dread.  Its shadow, projected onto the wall and floor,

 

accentuates the menacing shapes of the metal chains and hook.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Untitled (Pure Fucking Armageddon)

 

 

stage spotlights, colored gel, smoke machine

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variable dimensions

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Inspired by stage lighting from live music concerts, five spotlights are fixed to the wall in the shape

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of a pentagram.  This geometrical construction is not only regarded as mathematical perfection by

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Pythagoras according to the golden ratio, but its symbolic representation can also be seen throughout

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history in religion to occultism, to astronomy to nature and also as a national flag icon.  With the

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assistance of a smoke machine, the hazy, blue geometrical symbol seems to float in the air.