Adrien Missika
Amexica
25 April–13 July 2014
Courtyard gallery:
Hans Schärer
Aquarelles érotiques (Erotic Watercolors)
25 April–13 July 2014
Opening: Friday 25 April, 6–9pm
Centre culturel suisse, Paris
38 rue des Francs-Bourgeois
75003 Paris
France
Hours: Tuesday–Sunday 1–7pm
T + 33 1 42 71 44 50
ccs [at] ccsparis.com
Born in Paris in 1981, Adrien Missika is a graduate of ECAL. He lives and works in Berlin. He was awarded the 2011 Prix Fondation d’entreprise Ricard and the 2013 Georg and Josi Guggenheim Foundation Prize.
Amexica is a new project by Missika that took shape during a trip along the border between Mexico and the United States. The artist used a drone mainly to film several natural and urban sites between Ciudad Juarez and Tijuana, to offer a different point of view on this closely monitored zone. Missika’s efforts have given rise to a highly ambitious piece, the most politically charged work of his output. In preparing it, the artist collaborated with the musician Victor Tricard.
An artist’s book devoted to the Amexica project is jointly published by CCS/éditions Periferia, with the generous support of the Georg and Josi Guggenheim Foundation.
On display in the courtyard gallery:
Hans Schärer, Aquarelles érotiques (Erotic Watercolors)
The self-taught painter Hans Schärer (1927–1997) lived in Paris from 1949 to 1956, and his time in the French capital was to have a lasting influence on his evolution as an artist. Noticed by Jean-Christophe Ammann, he was part of a show at the Lucerne Kunstmuseum in 1969. His work was shown at the 1981 São Paulo Biennial, while the Aargauer Kunsthaus mounted his first retrospective in 1982. The corpus of erotic watercolors, first shown in France, was produced in the 1970s and forms an important part of his work. Women appear voluptuous and dominating, while man is depicted as a slave of his desire. Schärer’s famous Madonnas were featured at the 2013 Venice Biennial, an exposure that largely contributed to the rediscovery of an artist who is at times associated with art brut.
