Cyprien Gaillard: The Romantic Vandal of Modernist Ruins
French artist Cyprien Gaillard explores the shortcomings of modernist architecture through diverse artistic mediums. His 2005 work Swiss Ruins showcases Ian MacPherson painting modernist residential blocks in Swiss suburbs. In the 2003 piece Belief in the Age of Disbelief, he juxtaposes stark housing towers with 17th-century Dutch engravings. The 2008 series The New Picturesque alludes to Rauschenberg's erased de Kooning drawing. His photographic works include Geographical Analogies (2008) and Cairns (2008). The 2007 piece Working in a State of Emergency (Glasgow) depicts failing social housing. Gaillard's installations feature Cenotaph to 12 Riverford Road, Pollokshaw, Glasgow (2008) and Dunepark (2009), while his videos, such as Cities of Gold and Mirrors (2009) and Pruitt Igoe-Falls (2009), capture urban decline and destruction.
Key facts
- Cyprien Gaillard is a French artist recognized nationally and internationally.
- Swiss Ruins (2005) features painter Ian MacPherson depicting modernist architecture in Swiss suburbs.
- Belief in the Age of Disbelief (2003) juxtaposes housing towers with 17th-century Dutch landscape engravings.
- The New Picturesque (2008) covers landscape paintings with white paint, referencing Rauschenberg and Hubert Robert.
- Cairns (2008) are large-format photographs of demolished housing towers in Glasgow.
- La Grande Allée du château de Oiron (2008) incorporates debris from a demolished tower in Issy-les-Moulineaux.
- Cenotaph to 12 Riverford Road, Pollokshaw, Glasgow (2008) uses 15 tons of recycled concrete from demolished modernist housing.
- Dunepark (2009) excavates a German bunker at Scheveningen beach.
- Le Canard de Beaugrenelle (2008) is a bronze duck from Paris moved to Berlin for the 5th Biennale.
- Cities of Gold and Mirrors (2009) was filmed in Cancún, Mexico, and features spring breakers and a Bloods gang member.
- Desniansky Raion (2007) shows hooligan fights in St. Petersburg and a housing block demolition in Paris.
- Pruitt Igoe-Falls (2009) documents the destruction of Pruitt-Igoe in St. Louis, designed by Minoru Yamasaki.
- Crazy Horse (2008) documents the carving of the Crazy Horse monument in the Black Hills.
- Real Remnants of Fictive Wars VI (2004) features white smoke clouds from industrial fire extinguishers.
- Gaillard's work is influenced by Robert Smithson's concept of entropy.
Entities
Artists
- Cyprien Gaillard
- Ian MacPherson
- Rembrandt
- Antonie Waterloo
- Jan Hackaert
- Robert Rauschenberg
- Willem de Kooning
- Hubert Robert
- Robert Smithson
- Paul Virilio
- Minoru Yamasaki
- Charles Jencks
- Philip Glass
- Koudlam
- Crazy Horse
- Dominique Baqué
Institutions
- artpress
- 5th Berlin Biennale
- Prix Marcel Duchamp
- FIAC
- Cour Carrée du Louvre
- Centre d'art et du paysage de l'Ile de Vassivière
- Bugada & Cargnel (Cosmic Galerie)
- Museum Complex of Santa Maria della Scala
- Hayward Gallery
- Sprüth Magers
- Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León
- Proyectos Monclova
- Frac Champagne Ardenne
- Beton Belvedere, Stroom
- Kunsthalle Fridericianum
- Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
- Museum für Moderne Kunst
- Malta Contemporary Art
- Kunsthalle Basel
- Wexner Center for the Arts
- Flammarion
Locations
- Switzerland
- Glasgow
- Scotland
- United Kingdom
- Issy-les-Moulineaux
- France
- Paris
- Deux-Sèvres
- Château de Oiron
- Scheveningen
- Netherlands
- Beaugrenelle
- Berlin
- Germany
- Cancún
- Mexico
- Yucatán
- El Rey
- Belgrade
- Serbia
- Saint-Pétersbourg
- Russia
- Kiev
- Ukraine
- Desniansky Raion
- Saint-Louis
- United States
- Niagara Falls
- Black Hills
- Dakota du Sud
- New Jersey
- Manhattan
- Vietnam
- Vassivière
- Siena
- Italy
- London
- Léon
- Spain
- Mexico City
- Reims
- The Hague
- Kassel
- Washington, D.C.
- Frankfurt
- Valletta
- Malta
- Basel
- Columbus
- Ohio
- Oiron
- Paris 15th arrondissement
- Saint Petersburg
- Missouri
- South Dakota
- Spiral Jetty