The fifth Meurice Prize for contemporary art has been awarded to Alexandre Singh, represented by Galerie Art: Concept
2012-10-15 — /travelprnews.com/ — True to its heritage and its enthusiasm for the art of its times, and for the fifth consecutive year, the firstParisian palace hotel (1835) has awarded a prize to help an emerging artist on the French scene to gaininternational exposure. The prize, which has an endowment of€20,000, was jointly awarded on October 9th to Alexandre Singh for his project “The Humans” and to Art: Concept Gallery. Judges have chosen Alexandre Singh amongst the 50 outstanding projects that were submitted for the prize. This year’s jury comprise prestigious members of the art scene including Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, Ambassador for the award, Montse Aguer, Director of the Centre for Dalinian Studies, Mathieu Kleyebe Abonnenc, Artist and Winner of the award in 2011/2012, Colette Barbier, Director of Fondation d’entreprise Ricard, Philippe Dagen, Writer and Professor at Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, Jennifer Flay, FIAC Director, Marta Gili, Director of Jeu de Paume, Henri Loyrette, President and Director of the Louvre Museum, Maryvonne Pinault, Collector, Jean de Loisy, President of the Palais de Tokyo, and Franka Holtmann, General Manager of Le Meurice.
Alexandre Singh was born in 1980. He lives and works in New-York. His practice encompasses numerous media including performance, sculpture and drawing. His work explores human consciousness with influences that range from Lovecraft to Molière, the Gothic novel to scientific research. Writing is central to his work, often presented as a live performance using projectors and transparencies. The result is an atmosphere combining fact with fiction.
The artist’s project, “The Humans”, comprises a series of sculptures belonging to the tradition of theatrical performance. A mountain divides the space into two opposing spheres: the Apollonian realm inherent toCharles Ray, and the Dionysian world of the Nesquikchocolate rabbit. The performance is set during Genesis. The protagonists are plotting to prevent the creation of the universe. However, their attempts will provedisastrous and their failures will gradually give rise to the world we know today. The action comes to a headwhen the two subordinates accidentally give life to the chorus, made up of the Humans in the title. Six different shots will show the play from beginning to end. Inside a room lined with synthetic lawn, spectators can watch the play on five screens. The sixth screen will show the actors inside the mountain, something the audience of the play will not see. The project will be shown at Witte de With contemporary art centre in Rotterdam and Sprüth Magers gallery in Berlin, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music from November 11th to November 17th. The project may be shown at the Avignon Festival in 2014.
Guests have had the opportunity to preview the exhibition of the eight finalists’ work until October 21st and be part of the VIP section at the FIAC contemporary art fair.
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The fifth Meurice Prize for contemporary art has been awarded to Alexandre Singh, represented by Galerie Art: Concept