Adrien Vescovi: Soleil blanc

The constantly mutating paintings of Adrien Vescovi are the result of a long fabrication process. He experiments like an alchemist with colours that appear and stabilise on unstretched cloth, using chance dye processes. In his recent series, his palette takes us on a Mediterranean voyage by concentrating on natural pigments extracted from the ground in the Vaucluse, Roussillon or Burgundy and also from Italy and from Morocco. The colours soak deep into the textile fibres of old recycled bed sheets, inking the material with the memory of places. The sheets, with their hand-embroidered writings (monograms), are assembled and stitched together in different ways. Suspended in the space they now form layers of lands and stories, both personal and collective. 

At Le Grand Café, as with every new appearance of his work, he takes the opportunity to rework older creations and add to them. Unfolded on an architectural scale, his walls of textile remake the space itself and draw in the body as much as they do the eye, like ephemeral urban monuments (washing strung between windows), sails, screens, the pages of books or interior landscapes. 

Biography
Born in 1981 in France, lives and works in Marseille (France).
Upcoming: Fondation Pernod Ricard Prize exhibition, Paris
Recent shows:
2021: Pera Museum, Istanbul, Turkey
2020: Triangle France - Astérides / Ateliers de la Ville de Marseille, Friche La Belle de Mai, Marseille; High Art Gallery, Paris; Studio Fotokino, Marseille
2019: Palais de Tokyo, Paris; MRAC, Sérignan, France; International Festival of Fashion, Villa Noailles, Hyères, France; San Sebastiano da Po, Italy (residency); Centre de la Vieille Charité & Friche La Belle de Mai, Marseille; Galerie des Ponchettes, MAMAC, Nice, France
2018: Biennial IntoNature, Frederiksoord, The Netherlands; Maison Pelgrims, Brussels, Belgium
2017: Residency and exhibition, Le Cyclop, Milly-la Forêt, France
2016: Casa de Francia, Institut Français d'Amérique Latine, Mexico City, Mexico

This exhibition is part of the event Plein Soleil 2021, the summer of contemporary art centres, a project by d.c.a/Association française de développement des centres d'art contemporain.

Curator: Sophie Legrandjacques, director of Le Grand Café – contemporary art centre
Press contact: Hélène Annereau-Barnay, annereaubarh@mairie-saintnazaire.fr