For over a month, Colette will be hosting a special program by Each x Other and Robert Montgomery, to mark the launch of Multiples d’Artistes published by Each x Other. Galerie Colette will host a monographic exhibition by Robert Montgomery, and all floors will feature his Multiples, presented in the form of immense checkerboard murals. These Art Editions are six in number: an aluminum cast, a woodcut, two light works, a lithograph and a photograph; each is signed and numbered. In the store window, a new version of the luminous work “The Slow Disappearance of Meaning and Truth” will be presented from June 15 to 29 during Men’s Fashion Week. At the same time, the Pre-Collection 2014 will be unveiled, with a Women’s and Men’s selection inspired by the work of Robert Montgomery and a unique T-shirt.
British artist Robert Montgomery works with words, pushing the tradition of text-based art to the edge of poetry. His poem-works take over public spaces in monumental light installations, are set alight in nocturnal performances, or are scattered around advertising spaces using guerrilla techniques. Robert Montgomery’s work often touches on the history of cities and places. For this exhibition at colette, the artist proposes an original work inspired by a particular event in art history that took place just a few meters from 213 rue Saint-Honoré.
In 1871, Courbet published a column in the Journal Officiel de la Commune de Paris, claiming that the Vendôme column was a symbol of war, conflict and imperialism. Courbet wrote that the column – built from the bronze of cannons left over from Napoleon’s battles – had no place in the “rue de la Paix” and should therefore be demolished. On May 16, 1871, the Communards destroyed the column, and Courbet took the blame for having dared to dream the idea on paper. He was severely sentenced to 6 months in prison for the content of his tribune. But the worst was yet to come. The column was rebuilt in 1874. President Mac-Mahon persecuted Courbet, demanding that he pay the titanic sum of 323,091 Francs (around €1,300,000) for the reconstruction. This second sentence ruined Courbet, forcing him to leave France for Switzerland, where he ended his days as a poor man in exile.
Robert Montgomery invites us to question the meaning of our monuments and the configuration of our cities. The poem in the exhibition’s central illuminated work echoes Courbet’s critique of the Vendôme column as a symbol of imposed power, inviting us to reconsider the oft-depreciated ring road as a symbolic space whose values must be reversed in order to reclaim it as a place of freedom.
“PILES OF DIRT AND GLASS YOU WALK UPON AND THE KINGS ARE DUST UNDER YOUR FEET NOW AND OUR CITIES HAVE PERIPHERALS LIKE HALOS WHERE THEY ONCE HAD CASTLE WALLS LIKE PRISONS”
Robert Montgomery’s work is often permeated by questions of peace and freedom in our cities – a theme he has explored in projects at Berlin’s Templehof Airport and London’s Trafalgar Square. Although his work often returns to difficult moments in history, his view of the city is always more optimistic than critical. Robert Montgomery is interested in lyrical potential as well as something profoundly democratic – the idea of the City as collective property.
Like a veritable publishing house, EACH x OTHER produces limited edition artworks, books, design and fashion objects. In parallel with this exhibition at Galerie colette in June and July, EACH x OTHER will present Robert Montgomery’s Éditions d’Art in dialogue with a fashion collection inspired by his work and poetic universe.
The heart of EACH x OTHER’s philosophy, through its founding concept “Art Meets Fashion”, has always been to democratize art through fashion, making it accessible to a wider public. With the launch of these limited edition Art Editions, the public will be able to acquire a signed and numbered work of art at an affordable price, comparable to that of a quality garment.
In the gallery on the second floor, colette welcomes a solo exhibition by Robert Montgomery and his Multiples published by EACH X OTHER. In the reception area, upstairs and downstairs, “ONE DAY” editions in cast aluminum will be arranged in a large installation in checkerboard wall format; a selection from the EACH x OTHER Fall/Winter 2014 pre-collection in collaboration with Robert Montgomery will be unveiled in dialogue with his six Editions d’Art at colette: a cast aluminum, a woodcut, two light works, a lithograph and a photograph. Each work will be signed, numbered and presented with a certificate of authenticity from the artist. In the store window, a new version of the luminous piece “The Slow Disappearance of Meaning and Truth” will be presented from June 15 to 29 during Men’s Fashion Week.
Cette publication est également disponible en : Français (French)
