Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Gallery 2.
Superclogger (detail), 2021. Plexi aquarium, water pump, artificial sweat, silicone mask, and hair, 20 x 40 x 16 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Marcelle Alix, Paris. Image courtesy of Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts; photo: Colin Conces.
Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Gallery 2.
Superclogger, 2021. Plexi aquarium, water pump, artificial sweat, silicone mask, and hair, 20 x 40 x 16 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Marcelle Alix, Paris. Image courtesy of Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts; photo: Colin Conces.
Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Gallery 2.
Clockwise, from front: Superclogger, 2021; Coins [Corners], 2019. Mixed media sculptures, dimensions variable; Supplement, 2019. Grab bars, epoxy, urine, Viagra, and other materials, dimensions variable; Getting A Younger Sister, Thinking To Myself, 2021. Video, 20 min.; The Infinite Dog (detail), 2021. Acetone on book pages, 11.7 x 16.54 in. each; The Smell of Work, 2021. Plexi aquarium and yogurt shower gel, 16 x 40 x 12 in., courtesy of the artist and Marcelle Alix, Paris. Image courtesy of Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts; photo: Colin Conces.
Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Gallery 2.
Front to back: The Smell of Work, 2021. Plexi aquarium, yogurt shower gel, and nicotine patches, 16 x 40 x 12 inches; Getting A Younger Sister, Thinking To Myself, 2021. Video, 20 minutes. Courtesy of the artist and Marcelle Alix, Paris. Image courtesy of Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts; photo: Colin Conces.
Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Gallery 2.
Clockwise from left: works by Jean-Charles de Quillacq; Adham Faramawy, Skin Flick, 2019–2021; Rodney McMillian, Untitled (Entrails), 2019–2020. Image courtesy of Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts; photo: Colin Conces.
Jean-Charles de Quillacq presents an archipelago of recent and reconfigured works, including a video of the artist at work playing synchronically on two back-to-back monitors suspended from the ceiling, and a new site-responsive sculpture (Armpit) incorporating one of the galleries’ distinctive columns. Coated with a thick layer of amber petroleum jelly discretely spattered with axilla hair—harvested by the artist from a local donor recruited on Tinder—the column is given a skin. De Quillacq’s gesture thus mobilizes this structural feature of the exhibition space, drawing attention to one of its “bones” and to the relationships between bodies and architecture.
De Quillacq’s work expands both the limits and status of the body in critical ways, starting with the dissolution of the borders between self and other and the celebration of fluid intimacies between the living and non-living. In several works, the distinction between artist and work vanishes, welcoming visitors to a realm of equivalencies—between materials; the body as agent and matter; labor, desire, work, and art. Since these equivalencies are elaborative, de Quillacq’s works are neither unique nor finished: infinitely replicable, renamable, and reconfigurable, one work can stand for another, becoming it before it goes on to its next figuration. Locating the body at the intersection of biological, material, and libidinal economies, de Quillacq work expands on corporeal hospitality through omniphilia.
Anderson Gallery, 1st Floor.
Smoking Bleaching (detail), 2022. Painted and burnt insulation material on acrylic pedestal, pedestal: 16 x 40 x 12 inches; sculptures: dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist and Marcelle Alix, Paris. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo Art Galleries; photo: Biff Henrich/IMG-INK.
Anderson Gallery, 1st Floor.
Smoking Bleaching, 2022. Painted and burnt insulation material on acrylic pedestal, pedestal: 16 x 40 x 12 inches; sculptures: dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist and Marcelle Alix, Paris. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo Art Galleries; photo: Biff Henrich/IMG-INK.
Anderson Gallery, 1st Floor.
Smoking Bleaching, 2022. Painted and burnt insulation material on acrylic pedestal, pedestal: 16 x 40 x 12 inches; sculptures: dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist and Marcelle Alix, Paris. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo Art Galleries; photo: Biff Henrich/IMG-INK.
Anderson Gallery, 1st Floor.
Smoking Bleaching, 2022. Painted and burnt insulation material on acrylic pedestal, pedestal: 16 x 40 x 12 inches; sculptures: dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist and Marcelle Alix, Paris. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo Art Galleries; photo: Biff Henrich/IMG-INK.
Anderson Gallery, 1st Floor.
Clockwise, from left: Jean-Charles de Quillacq, Mégot [Cigarette Butt], 2016; Mounir Fatmi, The Blinding Light 20, The Blinding Light 12, The Blinding Light 08, The Blinding Light 05, 2013–2017; Jean-Charles de Quillacq, Smoking Bleaching, 2022. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo Art Galleries; photo: Biff Henrich/IMG-INK.
Anderson Gallery, 1st Floor.
Left to right: Ana Torfs, When You Whistle, It Makes Air Come Out, 2019; Jean-Charles de Quillacq, Smoking Bleaching, 2022. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo Art Galleries; photo: Biff Henrich/IMG-INK.
Anderson Gallery, 1st Floor.
Left to right: Rodney McMillian, Cell I, 2017–2020; Jean-Charles de Quillacq, Mégot [Cigarette Butt], 2016; Mounir Fatmi, The Blinding Light 05, 2013–2017; Ana Torfs, When You Whistle, It Makes Air Come Out, 2019; Jean-Charles de Quillacq, Smoking Bleaching, 2022. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo Art Galleries; photo: Biff Henrich/IMG-INK.
Anderson Gallery, 1st Floor.
Left to right: Jean-Charles de Quillacq, Smoking Bleaching, 2022; Lucas Michael, Estás equivocado pero tienes razón [You are wrong but you are right], 2021; Celina Eceiza, La vida terrenal reconquista al soñador [Earthly Life Reconquers the Dreamer] (detail), 2022; Rodney McMillian, Cell I, 2017–2020; Jean-Charles de Quillacq, Mégot [Cigarette Butt], 2016. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo Art Galleries; photo: Biff Henrich/IMG-INK.
Anderson Gallery, 1st Floor.
Left to right: Celina Eceiza, La vida terrenal reconquista al soñador [Earthly Life Reconquers the Dreamer] (detail), 2022; Rodney McMillian, Cell I, 2017–2020; Jean-Charles de Quillacq, Mégot [Cigarette Butt], 2016; Jeneen Frei Njootli, Fighting for the title not to be pending (detail), 2021; Mounir Fatmi, The Blinding Light 20, 2013–2017. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo Art Galleries; photo: Biff Henrich/IMG-INK.
Anderson Gallery, 1st Floor.
Left to right: Rodney McMillian, Cell I, 2017–2020; Jean-Charles de Quillacq, Mégot [Cigarette Butt], 2016; Jeneen Frei Njootli, Fighting for the title not to be pending (detail), 2021; Mounir Fatmi, The Blinding Light 20, The Blinding Light 12, The Blinding Light 08, 2013–2017. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo Art Galleries; photo: Biff Henrich/IMG-INK.
Anderson Gallery, 1st Floor.
Jean-Charles de Quillacq, Mégot [Cigarette Butt], 2016. Painted and burnt bread, Tarbender®, 2.76 x 2.76 x 4.72 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Marcelle Alix, Paris. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo Art Galleries; photo: Biff Henrich/IMG-INK.
Center for the Arts Gallery, 1st Floor.
Left to right: Bridget Moser, When I Am Through With You There Won’t Be Anything Left (back), 2021; Jean-Charles de Quillacq, Mégot [Cigarette Butt], 2016; Rodney McMillian, Between the Sun and the Moon (For H. A. Washington), 2020. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo Art Galleries; photo: Biff Henrich/IMG-INK.
Center for the Arts Gallery, 2nd Floor.
Clockwise, from front: Slinko, Economy of Means, 2022; Jean-Charles de Quillacq, Smoking Bleaching and Souple ment, 2022; Lynne Marsh, Atlas_Jobel, 2021. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo Art Galleries; photo: Biff Henrich/IMG-INK.
Center for the Arts Gallery, 2nd Floor.
Souple ment, 2022. Acrylic resin, 2.76 x 10.73 x 3.94 inches (each). Courtesy of the artist and Marcelle Alix, Paris. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo Art Galleries; photo: Biff Henrich/IMG-INK.
Center for the Arts Gallery, 2nd Floor.
Ma Sis T’Aime Reproductive, 2022. Artificial sweat on gallery wall, dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist and Marcelle Alix, Paris. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo Art Galleries; photo: Biff Henrich/IMG-INK.
Center for the Arts Gallery, 2nd Floor.
Smoking Bleaching, 2022. Painted and burnt insulation material, dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist and Marcelle Alix, Paris. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo Art Galleries; photo: Biff Henrich/IMG-INK.
Center for the Arts Gallery, 2nd Floor.
Clockwise, from left: Jean-Charles de Quillacq, Souple ment, 2022; Lynne Marsh, Atlas_Jobel and Atlas_Cecilia, 2021; Lucas Michael, Is As Is Is, 2018–2021 and Illusory Truth Effect, 2019–2021; Berenice Olmedo, Akro-Bainein, 2020. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo Art Galleries; photo: Biff Henrich/IMG-INK.
Center for the Arts Gallery, 2nd Floor.
Left to right: Jean-Charles de Quillacq, Mégot [Cigarette Butt], 2016; Lynne Marsh, Atlas_Cecilia (detail), 2021. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo Art Galleries; photo: Biff Henrich/IMG-INK.
Center for the Arts Gallery, 2nd Floor.
Front to back: Berenice Olmedo, Akro-Bainein, 2020; Jean-Charles de Quillacq, Souple ment, 2022; Lynne Marsh, Atlas_Jobel (detail), 2021. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo Art Galleries; photo: Biff Henrich/IMG-INK.
Center for the Arts Gallery, 2nd Floor.
Clockwise, from front: Berenice Olmedo, Akro-Bainein, 2020; Lynne Marsh, Atlas_Abriel, 2021; Jean-Charles de Quillacq, Smoking Bleaching, 2022. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo Art Galleries; photo: Biff Henrich/IMG-INK.
Jean-Charles de Quillacq presents an archipelago of new and recent works, including the site-responsive Ma Sis T’Aime Reproductive, which incorporates a distinctive, yet subtle, architectural feature of the gallery: a circular engaged column nestled between the institution’s administrative and exhibitionary spaces. As gallery staff regularly coat part of the work with a solution based on the artist’s sweat, the column’s skin becomes more present visually and olfactorily. A slightly odorous stain grows, as if one and many had been leaning on this spot, leaving a waist-to-shoulder imprint of their backs. De Quillback’s gesture thus mobilizes this structural feature of the institution, drawing attention to one of its “bones” and to the relationships between bodies and architecture.
De Quillacq’s work expands the limits and status of the body in critical ways, starting with the dissolution of the borders between self and other and the celebration of fluid intimacies between the living and non-living. In several works, the distinction between artist and work vanishes, welcoming visitors to a realm of equivalencies—between materials; the body as agent and matter; labor, desire, work, and art. These equivalencies are elaborative and de Quillacq’s works are infinitely replicable, renamable, and reconfigurable. None is ever unique or finished: one can stand for another, becoming it before it goes on to its next figuration. Locating the body at the intersection of biological, material, and libidinal economies, de Quillacq work expands on corporeal hospitality through omniphilia.
Jean-Charles de Quillacq’s sculptures and performances are both conceptual and fetishistic. His work has been featured in solo exhibitions in institutions across Europe, including Art 3, Valence, France (2021); Bétonsalon, Paris (2019); La Galerie in Noisy-le-Sec, France (2018); and the Swiss Art Awards, Basel, where he was one of the winners (2017). De Quillacq is also known for his performances, including Le Remplaçant and L’Imitation par les larmes, Les Ateliers de Rennes, France (2018); Faire Elle, Triangle, Marseille (2018); and Fraternité Passivité Bienvenue, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2016). He has taken part in several group exhibitions, including Histoires vraies, Musée d’art contemporain du Val-de-Marne, France (2023); Nous sommes tous des lichens, Musée d’art contemporain de Rochechouart, France (2022); Des corps, des écritures. Regards sur l’art d’aujourd’hui, Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris (2022); Les Envoûtés, Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris (2021); Children Power 3, Le plateau, FRAC île-de-france, Paris (2021); Troubles Tropiques, Centre Trouble à Plomb, Brussels (2021); Helmhaus, Zurich (2021); Matter of Art Biennial, Prague (2020); Future, ancient, fugitive, Palais de Tokyo (2019); and À Cris Ouverts, Rennes Biennial (2018).
ESSAYS
Sylvie Fortin, “Surrogacy, Money Shots, and Bit Rot,” Art/Agenda, June 18, 2021.
Sylvie Fortin, “Visqueen Lumisol Clear: Jean-Charles de Quillacq” TextWork, May 2020.
REVIEWS
Lotte Arndt, “Jean-Charles de Quillacq,” Art3, May 17, 2021.
Mara Hoberman, “Paris: Jean-Charles de Quillacq,” Artforum, July 2020.
Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Gallery 2.
Superclogger (detail), 2021. Plexi aquarium, water pump, artificial sweat, silicone mask, and hair, 20 x 40 x 16 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Marcelle Alix, Paris. Image courtesy of Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts; photo: Colin Conces.
Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Gallery 2.
Superclogger, 2021. Plexi aquarium, water pump, artificial sweat, silicone mask, and hair, 20 x 40 x 16 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Marcelle Alix, Paris. Image courtesy of Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts; photo: Colin Conces.
Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Gallery 2.
Clockwise, from front: Superclogger, 2021; Coins [Corners], 2019. Mixed media sculptures, dimensions variable; Supplement, 2019. Grab bars, epoxy, urine, Viagra, and other materials, dimensions variable; Getting A Younger Sister, Thinking To Myself, 2021. Video, 20 min.; The Infinite Dog (detail), 2021. Acetone on book pages, 11.7 x 16.54 in. each; The Smell of Work, 2021. Plexi aquarium and yogurt shower gel, 16 x 40 x 12 in., courtesy of the artist and Marcelle Alix, Paris. Image courtesy of Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts; photo: Colin Conces.
Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Gallery 2.
Front to back: The Smell of Work, 2021. Plexi aquarium, yogurt shower gel, and nicotine patches, 16 x 40 x 12 inches; Getting A Younger Sister, Thinking To Myself, 2021. Video, 20 minutes. Courtesy of the artist and Marcelle Alix, Paris. Image courtesy of Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts; photo: Colin Conces.
Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Gallery 2.
Clockwise from left: works by Jean-Charles de Quillacq; Adham Faramawy, Skin Flick, 2019–2021; Rodney McMillian, Untitled (Entrails), 2019–2020. Image courtesy of Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts; photo: Colin Conces.
Jean-Charles de Quillacq presents an archipelago of recent and reconfigured works, including a video of the artist at work playing synchronically on two back-to-back monitors suspended from the ceiling, and a new site-responsive sculpture (Armpit) incorporating one of the galleries’ distinctive columns. Coated with a thick layer of amber petroleum jelly discretely spattered with axilla hair—harvested by the artist from a local donor recruited on Tinder—the column is given a skin. De Quillacq’s gesture thus mobilizes this structural feature of the exhibition space, drawing attention to one of its “bones” and to the relationships between bodies and architecture.
De Quillacq’s work expands both the limits and status of the body in critical ways, starting with the dissolution of the borders between self and other and the celebration of fluid intimacies between the living and non-living. In several works, the distinction between artist and work vanishes, welcoming visitors to a realm of equivalencies—between materials; the body as agent and matter; labor, desire, work, and art. Since these equivalencies are elaborative, de Quillacq’s works are neither unique nor finished: infinitely replicable, renamable, and reconfigurable, one work can stand for another, becoming it before it goes on to its next figuration. Locating the body at the intersection of biological, material, and libidinal economies, de Quillacq work expands on corporeal hospitality through omniphilia.
Anderson Gallery, 1st Floor.
Smoking Bleaching (detail), 2022. Painted and burnt insulation material on acrylic pedestal, pedestal: 16 x 40 x 12 inches; sculptures: dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist and Marcelle Alix, Paris. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo Art Galleries; photo: Biff Henrich/IMG-INK.
Anderson Gallery, 1st Floor.
Smoking Bleaching, 2022. Painted and burnt insulation material on acrylic pedestal, pedestal: 16 x 40 x 12 inches; sculptures: dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist and Marcelle Alix, Paris. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo Art Galleries; photo: Biff Henrich/IMG-INK.
Anderson Gallery, 1st Floor.
Smoking Bleaching, 2022. Painted and burnt insulation material on acrylic pedestal, pedestal: 16 x 40 x 12 inches; sculptures: dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist and Marcelle Alix, Paris. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo Art Galleries; photo: Biff Henrich/IMG-INK.
Anderson Gallery, 1st Floor.
Smoking Bleaching, 2022. Painted and burnt insulation material on acrylic pedestal, pedestal: 16 x 40 x 12 inches; sculptures: dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist and Marcelle Alix, Paris. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo Art Galleries; photo: Biff Henrich/IMG-INK.
Anderson Gallery, 1st Floor.
Clockwise, from left: Jean-Charles de Quillacq, Mégot [Cigarette Butt], 2016; Mounir Fatmi, The Blinding Light 20, The Blinding Light 12, The Blinding Light 08, The Blinding Light 05, 2013–2017; Jean-Charles de Quillacq, Smoking Bleaching, 2022. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo Art Galleries; photo: Biff Henrich/IMG-INK.
Anderson Gallery, 1st Floor.
Left to right: Ana Torfs, When You Whistle, It Makes Air Come Out, 2019; Jean-Charles de Quillacq, Smoking Bleaching, 2022. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo Art Galleries; photo: Biff Henrich/IMG-INK.
Anderson Gallery, 1st Floor.
Left to right: Rodney McMillian, Cell I, 2017–2020; Jean-Charles de Quillacq, Mégot [Cigarette Butt], 2016; Mounir Fatmi, The Blinding Light 05, 2013–2017; Ana Torfs, When You Whistle, It Makes Air Come Out, 2019; Jean-Charles de Quillacq, Smoking Bleaching, 2022. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo Art Galleries; photo: Biff Henrich/IMG-INK.
Anderson Gallery, 1st Floor.
Left to right: Jean-Charles de Quillacq, Smoking Bleaching, 2022; Lucas Michael, Estás equivocado pero tienes razón [You are wrong but you are right], 2021; Celina Eceiza, La vida terrenal reconquista al soñador [Earthly Life Reconquers the Dreamer] (detail), 2022; Rodney McMillian, Cell I, 2017–2020; Jean-Charles de Quillacq, Mégot [Cigarette Butt], 2016. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo Art Galleries; photo: Biff Henrich/IMG-INK.
Anderson Gallery, 1st Floor.
Left to right: Celina Eceiza, La vida terrenal reconquista al soñador [Earthly Life Reconquers the Dreamer] (detail), 2022; Rodney McMillian, Cell I, 2017–2020; Jean-Charles de Quillacq, Mégot [Cigarette Butt], 2016; Jeneen Frei Njootli, Fighting for the title not to be pending (detail), 2021; Mounir Fatmi, The Blinding Light 20, 2013–2017. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo Art Galleries; photo: Biff Henrich/IMG-INK.
Anderson Gallery, 1st Floor.
Left to right: Rodney McMillian, Cell I, 2017–2020; Jean-Charles de Quillacq, Mégot [Cigarette Butt], 2016; Jeneen Frei Njootli, Fighting for the title not to be pending (detail), 2021; Mounir Fatmi, The Blinding Light 20, The Blinding Light 12, The Blinding Light 08, 2013–2017. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo Art Galleries; photo: Biff Henrich/IMG-INK.
Anderson Gallery, 1st Floor.
Jean-Charles de Quillacq, Mégot [Cigarette Butt], 2016. Painted and burnt bread, Tarbender®, 2.76 x 2.76 x 4.72 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Marcelle Alix, Paris. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo Art Galleries; photo: Biff Henrich/IMG-INK.
Center for the Arts Gallery, 1st Floor.
Left to right: Bridget Moser, When I Am Through With You There Won’t Be Anything Left (back), 2021; Jean-Charles de Quillacq, Mégot [Cigarette Butt], 2016; Rodney McMillian, Between the Sun and the Moon (For H. A. Washington), 2020. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo Art Galleries; photo: Biff Henrich/IMG-INK.
Center for the Arts Gallery, 2nd Floor.
Clockwise, from front: Slinko, Economy of Means, 2022; Jean-Charles de Quillacq, Smoking Bleaching and Souple ment, 2022; Lynne Marsh, Atlas_Jobel, 2021. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo Art Galleries; photo: Biff Henrich/IMG-INK.
Center for the Arts Gallery, 2nd Floor.
Souple ment, 2022. Acrylic resin, 2.76 x 10.73 x 3.94 inches (each). Courtesy of the artist and Marcelle Alix, Paris. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo Art Galleries; photo: Biff Henrich/IMG-INK.
Center for the Arts Gallery, 2nd Floor.
Ma Sis T’Aime Reproductive, 2022. Artificial sweat on gallery wall, dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist and Marcelle Alix, Paris. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo Art Galleries; photo: Biff Henrich/IMG-INK.
Center for the Arts Gallery, 2nd Floor.
Smoking Bleaching, 2022. Painted and burnt insulation material, dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist and Marcelle Alix, Paris. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo Art Galleries; photo: Biff Henrich/IMG-INK.
Center for the Arts Gallery, 2nd Floor.
Clockwise, from left: Jean-Charles de Quillacq, Souple ment, 2022; Lynne Marsh, Atlas_Jobel and Atlas_Cecilia, 2021; Lucas Michael, Is As Is Is, 2018–2021 and Illusory Truth Effect, 2019–2021; Berenice Olmedo, Akro-Bainein, 2020. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo Art Galleries; photo: Biff Henrich/IMG-INK.
Center for the Arts Gallery, 2nd Floor.
Left to right: Jean-Charles de Quillacq, Mégot [Cigarette Butt], 2016; Lynne Marsh, Atlas_Cecilia (detail), 2021. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo Art Galleries; photo: Biff Henrich/IMG-INK.
Center for the Arts Gallery, 2nd Floor.
Front to back: Berenice Olmedo, Akro-Bainein, 2020; Jean-Charles de Quillacq, Souple ment, 2022; Lynne Marsh, Atlas_Jobel (detail), 2021. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo Art Galleries; photo: Biff Henrich/IMG-INK.
Center for the Arts Gallery, 2nd Floor.
Clockwise, from front: Berenice Olmedo, Akro-Bainein, 2020; Lynne Marsh, Atlas_Abriel, 2021; Jean-Charles de Quillacq, Smoking Bleaching, 2022. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo Art Galleries; photo: Biff Henrich/IMG-INK.
Jean-Charles de Quillacq presents an archipelago of new and recent works, including the site-responsive Ma Sis T’Aime Reproductive, which incorporates a distinctive, yet subtle, architectural feature of the gallery: a circular engaged column nestled between the institution’s administrative and exhibitionary spaces. As gallery staff regularly coat part of the work with a solution based on the artist’s sweat, the column’s skin becomes more present visually and olfactorily. A slightly odorous stain grows, as if one and many had been leaning on this spot, leaving a waist-to-shoulder imprint of their backs. De Quillback’s gesture thus mobilizes this structural feature of the institution, drawing attention to one of its “bones” and to the relationships between bodies and architecture.
De Quillacq’s work expands the limits and status of the body in critical ways, starting with the dissolution of the borders between self and other and the celebration of fluid intimacies between the living and non-living. In several works, the distinction between artist and work vanishes, welcoming visitors to a realm of equivalencies—between materials; the body as agent and matter; labor, desire, work, and art. These equivalencies are elaborative and de Quillacq’s works are infinitely replicable, renamable, and reconfigurable. None is ever unique or finished: one can stand for another, becoming it before it goes on to its next figuration. Locating the body at the intersection of biological, material, and libidinal economies, de Quillacq work expands on corporeal hospitality through omniphilia.
Jean-Charles de Quillacq’s sculptures and performances are both conceptual and fetishistic. His work has been featured in solo exhibitions in institutions across Europe, including Art 3, Valence, France (2021); Bétonsalon, Paris (2019); La Galerie in Noisy-le-Sec, France (2018); and the Swiss Art Awards, Basel, where he was one of the winners (2017). De Quillacq is also known for his performances, including Le Remplaçant and L’Imitation par les larmes, Les Ateliers de Rennes, France (2018); Faire Elle, Triangle, Marseille (2018); and Fraternité Passivité Bienvenue, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2016). He has taken part in several group exhibitions, including Histoires vraies, Musée d’art contemporain du Val-de-Marne, France (2023); Nous sommes tous des lichens, Musée d’art contemporain de Rochechouart, France (2022); Des corps, des écritures. Regards sur l’art d’aujourd’hui, Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris (2022); Les Envoûtés, Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris (2021); Children Power 3, Le plateau, FRAC île-de-france, Paris (2021); Troubles Tropiques, Centre Trouble à Plomb, Brussels (2021); Helmhaus, Zurich (2021); Matter of Art Biennial, Prague (2020); Future, ancient, fugitive, Palais de Tokyo (2019); and À Cris Ouverts, Rennes Biennial (2018).
ESSAYS
Sylvie Fortin, “Surrogacy, Money Shots, and Bit Rot,” Art/Agenda, June 18, 2021.
Sylvie Fortin, “Visqueen Lumisol Clear: Jean-Charles de Quillacq” TextWork, May 2020.
REVIEWS
Lotte Arndt, “Jean-Charles de Quillacq,” Art3, May 17, 2021.
Mara Hoberman, “Paris: Jean-Charles de Quillacq,” Artforum, July 2020.