FRANÇOIS MORELLET

© ADAGP, Paris 2008 - Photo Frédéric Langel

 

elective Affinities: Arp, Duchamp, Picabia…

These ideas of humour, irony, derision and an attitude that does not take everything too seriously can be found in the work of other artists who also have a connection with Concrete Art. François Morellet has expressed his affinity with many of them, for example Paul Klee and Sophie Taeuber-Arp, whose compositions have a lightness that is often imbued with a joyful and humorous tone.

The same is true of Jean Hans Arp and Kurt Schwitters, whose Dadaist experimentations were based, like Morellet’s work, on the exploration of links between order and chaos. Many times, he has mentioned how important Marcel Duchamp has been for him: “At one time, people saw him as someone out to destroy society, whereas in fact, he was a brilliantly ironic bourgeois figure. That is why I am less ashamed of claiming him as a father.” The insolent irony of artists like Francis Picabia, Jean Tinguely, Robert Filliou or Bertrand Lavier is also close to the spirit of Morellet. You can also see his preoccupations in a younger generation, for example in the Swiss artist John M. Armleder, who casually and ironically alternates between anti-art and the idealist aesthetics of Concrete Art; an approach also be found in the work of Thomas Baumann. So through this complementary section of the exhibition, we are offered a fresh perspective on Morellet’s works.

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