Louis Cane Retrospective at MAMAC Nice Traces Four Decades of Painting

A major retrospective of Louis Cane, spanning works from the 1980s to recent years, is on view at the Musée d'art moderne et d'art contemporain de Nice (MAMAC) from April 21 to September 9, 2012. Cane, a former member of the radical Supports/Surfaces movement alongside Marc Devade and Daniel Dezeuze, emerged from the socio-cultural upheavals of May 1968. He initially engaged with avant-garde theory through journals like Tel Quel and Peinture, Cahiers théoriques, and produced serial works such as "Louis Cane Artiste Peintre" that echoed Warhol's Campbell's Soup cans. The exhibition, curated by MAMAC director Gilbert Perlein, features both abstract and figurative paintings that demonstrate Cane's evolving practice—from cutting unstretched canvases to sculpture and back to painting. His recent works engage in a dialogue with historical masterpieces he calls "tableaux motifs," including Velázquez's Las Meninas and De Kooning's Two Women in the Country, as well as homages to Muybridge, Van Gogh, and Bacon. Cane describes himself as "a sponge without any morality," embracing mimetic effects while maintaining the structural presence of the stretcher frame, a nod to his Supports/Surfaces roots. The exhibition highlights his persistent, joyful commitment to painting over four decades.