“EAT L.A. RIVER, SUMMER 2016″by Frederick Gautier
Curated by Nicolas Libert & Emamnuel Renoird
September 21st- October 22nd, 2016
@ Please do not Enter, Downtown Los Angeles

 

In June 2015, Nicolas Libert and Emmanuel Renoird-owners of PDNE & crazy Producers of crazy projects– saw the project OP.Tx100, that Frederick Gautier has created when he resided on the Louise-Catherine, a barge on the Seine River in Paris, built in 1915, all made with concrete, and remodeled by French architect Le Corbusier in 1929. Gautier has shown there 100 tea-pots in ceramic giving them the appearance of concrete with a background idea of nomadic micro-architecture.

The Seine River in Paris/unique tea-pots, plus the personality of Gautier those elements have driven naturally Nicolas and Emmanuel to ask him if he would consider to explore the L.A. River as he did with the Seine River for OP.Tx100 in order to produce unique designed urban utilitarian items. Actually the project oversees and integrates all the aspects of Gautier’s diverse career: he worked for twenty years for the movie industry, the Edition, he went to study the art of landscape in Versailles, and he learned the art of ceramic. Gautier went once to the L.A. River to see if he would be able to find some inspiration there, and he accepted the challenge.

 

No doubt the L.A. River is a myth, for the Europeans as well as the native Americans. It flows nearly 48 miles from the Simi Hills and Santa Susana Mountains where it starts all through Los Angeles County, California, from Canoga Park in the western end of the San Fernando Valley. Indeed, any one in the entire World knows it, whether it is through movies: “Transformers,” “Terminator 2”,  “Grease,” or music videos: Kanye West’s “Jesus Walks,” Maroon 5’s “Wake Up Call,” and so on… It is the place where car speed has no limit, where rivals can beat to death, a sort of free-zone where anything can happen.

 

Far to block Gautier’s inspiration, those myths helped him to scrutinize even harder every single square foot of the LA River like archeologists do, to discover the inner vocabulary of the River. Which he did. The LA River delivered to Gautier unexpected beauties like holes, shapes of things, pieces in iron or steel, nails of different sizes and so on, with colors of rust, colors of waters, colors of the wet concrete. A whole world was there hidden, ready to inspire Gautier’s new creations.

 

Today, all those items on display at PDNE are offering a river of Urban Poetry that flows in the gallery/boutique. Whatever you pick, a tea-pot, a mug, or a plate, it contains it all: the mystery and the vocabulary of the mythic LA River. Although Gautier says he was influenced by Bauhaus, Le Corbusier and Mallet Stevens, we see obviously a signature there which doesn’t belong to anyone of the above, but him.

Once more we see how taking risks as producers and artist worth it. Well done Misters Gautier, Nicolas Libert & Emmanuel Renoird!

Beatrice Chassepot – Los Angeles, September 27th

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Other views of the exhibition

Prices range from $250 to $4000 when it is a series or a big piece.
Each piece has its own number. Frederic Gautier decided to put a number since the the first piece was created

Excellent teaser