ART CITIES:Paris-Didier Fiuza Faustino

Didier Fiúza Faustino, MY CRAFTS (Exhibition View at Michel Rein Paris, 2016, Courtesy of the artist and Michel Rein Paris/BrusselsDidier Fiuza Faustino works on the relationship between body and space. He started his practice at the crossroad of art and architecture just after graduating in architecture in 1995. He has been developing since then a multi-faceted approach, ranging from installation to experimentation, from visual art to the creation of multi-sensorial spaces and buildings.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Galerie Michel Rein Archive

Didier Fiuza Faustino’s projects are characterized by their critical perspectives, their freedom of codes and their ability to offer new experiences to the individual and collective body. In some of his iconic works, such as “Body in transit” (Venice Biennale, 2000), a minimal space critiquing the transport of illegal immigrants, or “One square meter house” (P2007), a building prototype questioning the notions of land value and ownership, Faustino’s subversive stance invites us to question the political role of creation as well as our own position as a subject and a citizen. Didier Fiuza Faustino examines the theme of uncertain seating and denied commodities, in his solo exhibition “MY CRAFTS” at Michel Rein Gallery in Paris. The artist presents 10 works made the period 2000-16, the works which resemble chairs but they mishandle not only our bodies but also and foremost the categories established by design theorists and other decorative art specialists. The series open with “Love me tender” (2000) that seems to dictate to the other works his anti-ergonomic treaty with a slightly deceptive title. Faustino questions the Western postural conventions and he reveals the possibility of a rock (Broken White Cube, 2007), and a horse (Hermaphrodite, 2010). As he is not concerned with losing oneself in the sticky heat of the upholstery, the artist never fills in the gaps. That is the body’s role in “Temps sauvages et incertains” (2007). He also seeks to establish the degree zero of individual or collective comfort with “Expliseat”, (2005)  and “Sympathy for the Devil” (2006) respectively.  “Delete Yourself” (2016) is the last born seat by Didier Fiuza Faustino to design infinite combinatory landscapes, whilst giving knowing reverential winks to the work of Sol Lewitt and Superstudio. Polarised like the two wings of the “Uncut House” (2010), almost a genre in themselves, they are intended to be, as paradoxically as is possible, as massive as they are puny, simultaneously structural and monolithic.

Info: Galerie Michel Rein, 42 rue de Turenne, Paris, Duration: 20/10/16-11/1/17, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 11:00-19:00, http://michelrein.com

Didier Fiúza Faustino, MY CRAFTS (Exhibition View at Michel Rein Paris, 2016, Courtesy of the artist and Michel Rein Paris/Brussels
Didier Fiúza Faustino, MY CRAFTS, Exhibition View at Michel Rein Paris, 2016, Courtesy of the artist and Michel Rein Paris/Brussels

 

 

Didier Fiúza Faustino, MY CRAFTS (Exhibition View at Michel Rein Paris, 2016, Courtesy of the artist and Michel Rein Paris/Brussels
Didier Fiúza Faustino, MY CRAFTS, Exhibition Views at Michel Rein Paris, 2016, Courtesy of the artist and Michel Rein Paris/Brussels

 

 

Didier Fiúza Faustino, MY CRAFTS (Exhibition View at Michel Rein Paris, 2016, Courtesy of the artist and Michel Rein Paris/Brussels
Didier Fiúza Faustino, MY CRAFTS, Exhibition View at Michel Rein Paris, 2016, Courtesy of the artist and Michel Rein Paris/Brussels