What would happen if paintings became the world’s most valuable commodity, replacing gold and diamonds as the financial refuge for the super-rich? Would there be riots as artworks topped billion-dollar prices? Would governments respond by banning painting, closing art galleries and outlawing artists? This is the scenario explored in a new installation at Koleksiyon by artists Juan Bolivar, Patrick Tresset and Andy Hsu.
The centrepiece of the exhibition is a robot-artist named Paul. Paul, the creation of the French artist-scientist Patrick Tresset is a robotic draughtsman who draws portraits.
Paul has been provided with a permanent sitter in the form of Anatomic Anne, a CPR resuscitation mannequin reborn as muse by artist Andy Hsu. Paul works constantly on sketches of Anne to fill the empty frames that hang on the wall.
Juan Bolivar has produced a series of paintings which turn well-known artists’ names into wanted fugitives: Josef Albers becoming ‘Jesse’ and Willem de Kooning ‘Billy’, after the iconic Wild West characters Jesse James and Billy ‘The Kid’. They complement the stage set by Patrick Tresset’s robot and the sitter created by artist Andy Hsu.
Wanted
Patrick Tresset, Juan Bolivar, Andy Hsu Koleksiyon
6 February – 25 April 2014
9 Brewhouse Yard, London, EC1V 4JR
