FRENCH KISSIN IN THE USA

Opening on Tuesday, December 4, 2007 from 9pm to 12am

FRENCH KISSIN' IN THE USA will be the first exhibition in the United States of the current emerging generation of French artists. It takes its title from a 1986 hit song by Blondie and will present the work of eighteen (18) contemporary French artists which have not yet been widely received outside of France: Adel ABDESSEMED, Saâdane AFIF, Karina BISCH, Marcelline DELBECQ, Brice DELLSPERGER, Richard FAUGUET, Claire FONTAINE, Loris GREAUD, Vincent LAMOUROUX, Guillaume LEBLON, Mathieu MERCIER, Jean-François MORICEAU & Petra MRZYK, Philippe PERROT, Christine REBET, Tatiana TROUVE and Fabien VERSCHAERE.

The French artistic force celebrated within this exhibition resonates well beyond Europe and has always served as an inspiration to the creative world. The 90s generation of French artists was very well-known internationally and established an articulate dialogue with artists from the United States as well as other countries. In the past year or so, there have been several exhibitions in Paris focusing on French art, with particular emphasis on this new emerging generation: Notre Histoire at the Palais de Tokyo, La Force de l'art at the Grand Palais, and Airs de Paris at the Centre Pompidou, this last one also including artists of other generations and nationalities. The new generation is described by Hans Ulrich Obrist and Stéfanie Moisdon in the title of the 2007 Lyon Biennial as "The "00s: History of a Decade that Has Not Yet Been Named". These French artists create work that reflects the visual production of the 21st Century that is largely multi-dis ciplinary, exploring subjects and matters as diverse as the relationship between art and philosophy, music and film, and the dependency of concept to form. Coined as "Génération Sampling" (Bourriaud), many of these artists borrow and interpret images, forms and signs from the plethora of virtual and visual resources available to them.

FRENCH KISSIN' IN THE USA highlights a selection of artists in parallel projects, more in a laboratory fashion than as a concept or style-driven exhibition. Their work reflects visual production that is largely multi-disciplinary, exploring subjects and matters as diverse as the relationship between art and philosophy, music and film; the dependency of concept to form; appropriated images and the dialogue between form and architecture. A 30-page, full color catalogue will be produced to document the exhibition and will include an introductory text by the Director of The Moore Space and Curator of the exhibition, Silvia Karman Cubiñá as well as contributions by Caroline Bourgeois, Director, FRAC Le Plateau and Hans Ulrich Obrist, Curator of the Serpentine Gallery, London.

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FRENCH KISSIN' IN THE USA

mit Adel Abdessemed, Saadane Afif, Karina Bisch, Marcelline Delbecq, Brice Dellsperger, Richard Fauguet, CLAIRE FONTAINE , Loris Greaud, Vincent Lamouroux, Guillaume Leblon, Mathieu Mercier, Mrzyk & Moriceau, Philippe Perrot, Christine Rebet, Tatiana Trouve, Fabien Verschaere