Mathieu Mercier's work investigates key tropes of modern art, design, and everyday culture. Mercier’s pictorial invention and playfulness make reference to the contested space at the intersection of modernity and post-modernity where popular culture and high culture converge in his arrangement of ordinary objects presented in a museum or gallery context. Cultural references abound–from Marcel Duchamp’s engagement with everyday objects to filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard’s fascination with the colors red, yellow, and blue. In Mercier’s work, the selection of both objects and color invest each choice with double, if not multiple references.  In the case of Drum & bass Rozenbal the viewer is reminded of Mondrian through the use of primary colors combined with a rigid vertical and horizontal construction. At the same time, the meaning of the work shifts away from any art historical referent because it is made out of the emphatically ‘non-art’ materials of common household objects.

Mercier has exhibited at many major museums and institutions around the world, including solo exhibitions at Centre Georges Pompidou, Musee d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, FRAC Bourgogne, Villa Merkel in Esslingen am Neckar, Kunstmuseum St Gallen, Le Crédac Centre d’Art Contemporain d’Ivry, Foundation d’Entreprise Ricard d’Art Contemporain in Paris, and Kunsthalle Nürmberg, amongst others. In 2003, Mercier was honored with the prestigious Marcel Duchamp award.

Courtesy of Denis Gardarin Gallery