Mathieu Mercier, Annette Messager - Art Monte-Carlo - Art fairmfc-michèle didier | Paris - Brussels -

ART MONTE-CARLO 2018
April 28-29, 2018
Monaco, France
Booth E8

For its first participation at ART MONTE-CARLO, mfc-michèle didier is pleased to present four works by Annette Messager Ma collection de proverbes, Mes dessins secrets, Ma collection de champignons bons et de champignons mortels, Mon guide du tricot and Journal by Mathieu Mercier.

Artist-collector and handywoman, Annette Messager has made nearly sixty "collection albums" between 1972 and 1974. Inspired by words, writings and images, the artist has created her albums from an accumulation of texts, photographs, notes and miscellaneous items, cautiously collected and sorted. Sometimes carefully glued in notebooks, sometimes gathered in bulk folders, each one of Annette Messager?s albums include a handwritten title by the artist.

The albums are organized according to various themes, such as love life, encounters or domestic life and resemble sometimes a diary, a photo album or a recipe book. Annette Messager assembles common, everyday items to create a work that is subtly both poetic and feminist. Although the use of the personal pronoun suggests that the albums are autobiographical, they are works of fiction. They reveal the ironic fantasy life of a young woman embodying the archetype of the 60's housewife. This woman is not Annette Messager.

Ma collection de proverbes is one of these collections that Annette Messager has compiled over a long period of time and that consists of a series of "misogynist" proverbs. The artist has embroidered them on pieces of white fabric, attributing them in an incisive and ironic perspective. Slipped in a wooden box, each set of this edition is composed of the same 13 proverbs and 2 different proverbs in each set, for a total of 15 proverbs per set.

Mes dessins secrets, other album by Annette Messager, is consisting of 76 erotic drawings facsimile - drawn freehand by the artist on various papers from notebooks and booklets - these drawings are torn or detached from their original support and are collected in this bulk folder. During ARTMONTE-CARLO, all the drawings will be arranged on a large table, allowing the audience to browse among memories and fantasies of the artist.

Additionally displayed in the booth, Ma collection de champignons bons et de champignons mortels takes the form of a bound album. The artist has drawn a variety of colorful mushrooms, as if she were a botanist, indicating for each if it is toxic or not. The good and the toxic mushrooms are presented on the same pages, only the words "bons" (good) and "mortels" (deadly) in red allow us to differentiate them. A classification which seems quite personal and can be possibly risky for the users of the guide.

The fourth album, Mon guide du tricot, gathers a series of knitting techniques, through annotated photographs and schematic drawings. Two cardboards slid in the album show a woman wearing a mohair sweater and a man a suiza sweater. Each of these boards has its own thread sample.

Each works by Annette Messager presented on the mfc-michèle didier's booth is limited to 24 numbered and signed copies and 6 artist's proofs.

Mounted on a wooden newspaper stick, Journal by Mathieu Mercier takes the form of a limited edition newspaper containing a series of nude photographs, all coming from the artist's private collection. Mesmerizing because of their composition, these black and white photographs "don't reveal any stylistic indication - the models don't have any cloths nor accessory and the scene always shows an exterior, rural decor. Nonetheless, we can guess the era thanks to the women?s hairstyle, the way they pose and the quality of the picture. Even if they give the impression of a lost paradise, they clearly seem dated..."

With Mathieu Mercier's Journal as well as Annette Messager's albums, ARTMONTE-CARLO's audience will get caught up to the acute collecting and perhaps becomes a collector...