Stéphane Ducret : the true artist helps the world by repeating true artworks
Stéphane Ducret is a Lausanne-born Swiss visual artist who specializes in painting and drawing. He explores the artist's condition by appropriating appropriation.
Ducret's work forges links with other appropriation artists such as Elaine Sturtevant, Louise Lawler, Richard Pettibone and Robert Longo. What sets him apart from his predecessors is his interest in the artist's practice, technique and development.
With an exhibition title inspired by Bruce Nauman's famous humorous, or ironic, neon sign, "the true artist helps the world by revealing mystic truths" (1967), Ducret offers the WRP Foundation in Geneva a questioning of the scope of art and the way it is promoted in the world of the Internet.
For the first time, his iconic Painting Number 5 (#PaulMcCarthy #LucTuymans), 2019, will be on public view. It is part of his Real Estate series of 11 paintings of identical format (208 x 288 cm | 81 ⅞ x 74 inches). This very large painting depicts a sculpture by the controversial artist Paul McCarthy, a slightly dazed figure, a kind of child's doll with a tomato head, yet strangely sexualized, parachuted into the living room of a ranch that purports to be "authentic", belonging to a very famous American couturier, known for his WASP style.
This exhibition features a selection of works painted and drawn by Ducret over a 5-year period, grouped together in two distinct but interconnected series, My Own Private Museum, recently launched in 2023, and Real Estate (2017 - 2021), which forges a direct link with the WRP Foundation, whose aim is to enable artists to highlight the various links they forge with the fields of architecture, urban planning and design.
Exhibited series
In the Real Estate series, Ducret explores the relationship between reality and imagination, knowledge and recognition, blurring the boundaries of perception.
Contemporary masterpieces are combined with architectural settings in which Ducret creates new narratives, disconnected from their original context, setting up a complex, highly referential imaginary dialogue in which he takes up and develops the discourse of the artists he quotes.
The paintings in the My Own Private Museum series question how artists are recognized in an omnipresent and increasingly omniscient digital environment.
Ducret's portraits of contemporary masters and depictions of historical and contemporary masterpieces bring together three interconnected and inextricable entities that define any work of art: the artist's concept for the work, the technique used to create it and the work itself.
Images : Stéphane Ducret: the true artist helps the world by repeating true artworks
© Stéphane Ducret Studio
Fondation WRP
rue Argand 3
1201 Genève
Dates
July 23 - August 1, 2024
Opening Reception
Tuesday July 23, 6-8pm
Opening days
Monday to Friday : 10am-12pm & 2-6pm
Or by appointment
INSTALLATION SHOTS
WORKS
Stéphane Ducret
Painting Number 5 (#PaulMcCarthy #LucTuymans)
2019
Oil and oilstick on canvas
208 x 188 x 4 cm | 81 ⅞ x 74 x 1 ¾ in
Collection of the artist
Stéphane Ducret
Painting Number 4 (#Gerhard Richter #ImiKnoebel)
2019
Oil and oilstick on canvas
208 x 188 x 4 cm | 81 ⅞ x 74 x 1 ¾ in
Stéphane Ducret's work forges links with other appropriation artists such as Elaine Sturtevant, Richard Pettibone, Richard Prince and Robert Longo. What sets him apart from his predecessors is his interest in the artist's practice, technique and development.
Stéphane Ducret
Untitled (Andy Warhol. Roll of Bills. 1962)
2024
Color pencil on Arches paper
32 x 25 cm | 12 ⅔ x 9 ⅞ inches
Stéphane Ducret
Untitled (John Baldessari, Kissing Series, Simone, Palm Trees (Near), 1975)
2024
Color pencil on Arches paper
32 x 25 cm | 12 ⅔ x 9 ⅞ inches
Stéphane Ducret
Untitled (Bruce Nauman, Studies for Holograms, 1970)
2024
Color pencil on Arches paper
32 x 25 cm | 12 ⅔ x 9 ⅞ inches
With an exhibition title inspired by Bruce Nauman's famous humorous, or ironic, neon sign, "the true artist helps the world by revealing mystic truths" (1967), Ducret offers the WRP Foundation in Geneva a questioning of the scope of art and the way it is promoted in the world of the Internet.
Jade Amstel in conversation with Stéphane Ducret talk about his latest My Own Private Museum paintings, 2024 (9 minutes)
For the first time, his iconic Painting Number 5 (#PaulMcCarthy #LucTuymans), 2019, will be on public view. It is part of his Real Estate series of 11 paintings of identical format (208 x 288 cm | 81 ⅞ x 74 inches). This very large painting depicts a sculpture by the controversial artist Paul McCarthy, a slightly dazed figure, a kind of child's doll with a tomato head, yet strangely sexualized, parachuted into the living room of a ranch that purports to be "authentic", belonging to a very famous American couturier, known for his WASP style.
Stéphane Ducret
Untitled (Rudolf Stingel, Untitled, 1994)
2024
Oil, oil stick and pencil on linen
128 x 98 x 3,5 cm | 50 ⅓ x 38 ⅔ x 1 ⅓ inches
Stéphane Ducret
Louise Bourgeois, Nature Study
2023 - 2024
Oil, oil stick and pencil on linen
78 x 58 x 3,5 cm | 30 ¾ x 22 ⅞ x 1 ⅓ inches
This exhibition features a selection of works painted and drawn by Ducret over a 5-year period, grouped together in two distinct but interconnected series, My Own Private Museum, recently launched in 2023, and Real Estate (2017 - 2021), which forges a direct link with the WRP Foundation, whose aim is to enable artists to highlight the various links they forge with the fields of architecture, urban planning and design.
Stéphane Ducret
Untitled (Sterling Ruby SP123, 2010, spray paint on canvas)
2024
Oil, oil stick and pencil on linen
218 x 165 x 3,5 cm | 85 ⅞ x 65 x 1 ⅓ inches
“Learning the practices and techniques of other artists and reusing them to develop my own, or to teach others how to paint, is a way for me to pay tribute to them.”
Stéphane Ducret
Untitled (Banksy, Charlie Brown, 2011)
2024
Oil, acrylic and pencil on linen
48 x 38 x 3,5 cm | 18 ⅞ x 15 x 1 ⅓ inches
Stéphane Ducret
Untitled (Ugo Rondinone, the scholarly, 2017)
2024
Oil, acrylic and pencil on linen
48 x 38 x 3,5 cm | 18 ⅞ x 15 x 1 ⅓ inches
In the Real Estate series, Ducret explores the relationship between reality and imagination, knowledge and recognition, blurring the boundaries of perception.
Contemporary masterpieces are combined with architectural settings in which Ducret creates new narratives, disconnected from their original context, setting up a complex, highly referential imaginary dialogue in which he takes up and develops the discourse of the artists he quotes.
Stéphane Ducret
Drawing Number 14 (#PaulMcCarthy)
2021
Oilstick, China Marker and pencil on Arches paper
76 x 57 cm | 29 ⅞ x 22 ⅓ inches
Stéphane Ducret
Drawing Number 16 (#PaulMcCarthy)
2021
Oilstick, China Marker and pencil on Arches paper
76 x 57 cm | 29 ⅞ x 22 ⅓ inches
Stéphane Ducret
Drawing Number 6 (#SterlingRuby #JeanRoyere)
2021
Oilstick, China Marker, pencil and Daler Rowney paper collage on Sennelier paper
57 x 47 cm | 22 ⅓ x 18 ½ inches