Selection and siting of works____Robert Burton and Xavier Veilhan

Exhibition Coordination____Violeta Kreimer, Raphaël Raynaud and Florian Sumi for Atelier Xavier Veilhan; and Robert Burton for Hatfield House

Installation____Florian Sumi, Raphaël Raynaud, Dimitri Mallet, Dave Williams, John Gallagher and the Mtec team

Commissioning Editor____Robert Burton

Catalogue coordination____Diane Arques, Danielle Cardoso

Tramslation____Letizia Reuss, Atelier Xavier Veilhan

Graphic design____Nicholas Jeeves www.nicholasjeeves.com Site Photography____Stephen Ambrosewww.stephenambrose.co.uk

Printing____Emtone Print, Bath, UKwww.emtone.co.uk

Published to accompany the exhibition Veilhan at Hatfield: Promenade, organised by Hatfield House and Galerie Perrotin.

First published in 2012 by Gascoyne Holdings Press

© Veilhan/DACS/ADAGP, Paris 2012 www.veilhan.net

The moral rights of the authors have been asserted. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise, without first seeking the written permission of the copyright owners and the publisher.

ISBN 978-0-9568579-3-4

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Cover image

Debora, 2011____Collection Sandra Gering, New York____Photo © Diane Arques

On Xavier Veilhan

The Rhinoceros, 1999____Exhibition view, Le Plein emploi, Xavier Veilhan with Alexis Bertrand, MAMC, Strasbourg, 18/11/05 – 16/04/06____Collection Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris.____Photo © Florian Kleinefenn

The Model T Ford, 1999____Collection F.R.A.C. Poitou-Charentes, Angoulème____Photo © Studio Xavier Veilhan

The Forest, 1998____Exhibition view, solo show, CCA Kitakyushu, 29/08 — 19/09/98____Collection MAMCO, Geneva____Photo © Studio Xavier Veilhan

Le Plein emploi____Exhibition view, Le Plein emploi, Xavier Veilhan with Alexis Bertrand, MAMC, Strasbourg, 18/11/05 — 16/04/06 ____Photo © Florian Kleinefenn

The Bear, 2010____Private Collection, New York____Photo © Guillaume Ziccarelli

A Conversation

Xavier Veilhan at his Studio, 2009____Photo © The Selby

Preparatory sketches for Marine aux Rayons (2011)____Photo © Diane Arques

Scanning of model, Marine aux Rayons (2011)____Photo © Diane Arques

Sketch model of Rays (2011)____Photo © Diane Arques

Monceau (2008) ____Private Collection, Liban____Photo © Marc Domage

First proposed sketch for Rays at Hatfield’s Knot Garden for Promenade (2011)____Photo © Diane Arques

Installing Vibration (2010)____Photo © Studio Xavier Veilhan

Norman Foster (2011) at Studio Xavier Veilhan____Photo © Diane Arques

Preparatory sketches for Orchestra (2011)____Photo © Diane Arques

Work in progress, The Monument (2011)____Photo © Diane Arques

Model of The Monument (2011)____Photo © Diane Arques

Exhibition view, solo show, Galerie Jennifer Flay (1994)____Photo © Studio Xavier Veilhan

Preparatory sketches for Le Gisant, Youri Gagarine (2009) ____Photo © Diane Arques

Model of Le Gisant, Youri Gagarine (2009) ____Photo © Studio Xavier Veilhan

Veilhan at Hatfield: Promenade Image credits

Supported by

Colophon

Xavier Veilhan at Hatfield

___Promenade___

___1___On Xavier Veilhan by Benedicte Ramade

___2___Catalogue of Works

___3___A Conversation

Xavier Veilhan and Jessica Lack

___4___Biography

__1__

____On Xavier Veilhan____by Benedicte Ramade

Whether he uses digital photography, sculpture, public statuary, installations or even the art of the exhibition, Xavier Veilhan builds his work around the same axis: the possibilities of representation.______One of the most striking features of his polymorphic practice is that he treats generic objects and the shapes of everyday life in such a way that they emerge smoothed, without detail, and resistant to any psychological insight. Since the 1990s bestiaries have occupied a significant place in this process, among them penguins and rhinoceroses of unnatural colours, made of painted polyester resin. The Rhinoceros (1999), made at life-size, was lacquered in Ferrari red in a way that instantly modifies the perception of the mastodon’s ‘body work’. Already in 1995, with Les Gardes Républicaines, he had produced a completely generic set of four mounted guards. The statues stood like

Qu’il emploie la photographie numérique, la sculpture, la statuaire publique, la vidéo, l’installation ou même l’art de l’exposition, Xavier Veilhan architecture ses oeuvres autour d’une colonne vertébrale: les possibilités de la représentation.________L’un des marqueurs les plus visibles dans

sa pratique polymorphe est le recours à un traitement par la version générique de formes et d’objets, lissée, sans détail ni psychologie. Depuis les années 1990, le bestiaire animalier occupe une place de choix dans ce processus; entre autres, pingouins et rhinocéros sont réalisés en

résine teintée dans la masse, de coloris non naturalistes. Le Rhinocéros (1999), réalisé à échelle réelle, fut laqué en rouge Ferrari, modifiant instantanément la per-ception du mastodonte «carrossé». Déjà en 1995, avec Les Gardes Républicains, il avait réalisé un ensemble de quatre gardes à

____The Rhinoceros____

1999Painted polyester resin

170 x 140 x 415 cm

____The Model T Ford ____

1999Life-size reconstruction of a 1923 Model T Ford;

Metal chassis, wood bodywork, restored authentic engine175 x 300 x 170 cm

real-size toy figures. Veilhan’s figures are archetypes reduced to essentials, prepared so as to allow the viewer to immediately project himself beyond the anecdotal. Without seeking to be a perfect copy, they manage to impose their intimidating authority over him.______Fascinated by the issues of modernity and technical progress, Veilhan was also interested in mechanical systems and how they are constructed. With The Model T Ford (1999) he went against ‘Fordism’ by conducting the handmade reconstruction of this 1910 car, a symbol of the first mass productions. From stereotype to prototype, the artist has clouded the issue and covered his tracks by playing with standards. The Model T Ford was followed by bicycles, a motor scooter, and more recently, a Swiss cuckoo clock. This huge sixteen-foot long mechanical artwork, equipped with colored lacquered wheels,

cheval totalement génériques. Les statues se tenaient comme des figurines de jouets à taille réelle. Les figures de Veilhan sont des archétypes réduit à l’essentiel, préparés pour que le spectateur puisse s’y projeter immédiatement et dépasser le stade de l’anecdote. Sans rechercher un mimétisme

virtuose, elles parvenaient immé-diatement à établir un intimidant rapport d’autorité sur le specta-teur.________Fasciné par les ques-tions de modernité et de progrès technique, Veilhan s’intéressa parallèlement aux systèmes mécaniques, à la construction de machines. Avec la Ford T (1999),

il contraria même «Le Fordisme» en faisant réaliser à la main cette voiture des années 1910, symbole des premières productions à la chaîne. Du stéréotype au prototype, l’artiste a brouillé les cartes et les repères en s’attaquant aux stand-ards. Ont suivis les bicyclettes, un scooter-tour de potier, et

____The Forest____

1998Synthetic cloth

Variable dimensions

measures an enigmatic amount of time when a metallic sphere is activated in its system.______As with the bestiaries, mechanical modernity has been a guiding thread all through his career (which started at the end of the 1980s) and is still present in his most recent exhibitions. With The Forest or The Cave (1998), Xavier Veilhan proposes visiting experiences that take place in huge environments. The framework is always visible so as not to create false illusions: in Veilhan’s art, construction is essential. Rolls of grey felt that function as trunks suggest a forest. The same material covers the ground. The sensory experience of this synthetic environment is plunged into a muffled atmosphere, confined and soundproofed by the material used, as it dissects the automa-tisms of identification by resorting to strong cultural symbols. Veilhan employs these devices both in his major works and in

récemment un coucou suisse. Cet énorme ouvrage d’art machinique de cinq mètres de long, doté de rouages colorés et laqués, mesure un temps énigmatique lorsqu’il actionne une boule métallique dans son système.________Ainsi, comme les bestiaires, la modernité mécan-ique traverse la carrière de Xavier

Veilhan, commencée à la fin des années 1980, et se poursuit dans les expositions les plus récentes. Avec La Forêt ou La Grotte (réali-sées en 1998), Xavier Veilhan propose des expériences de visite dans d’énormes environnements. Il en révèle toujours la structure porteuse afin de ne ménager

aucune illusion: dans l’art de Veilhan, il s’agit avant tout de construction. La forêt est suggérée par des rouleaux de feutre gris, en guise de troncs; la même matière recouvre le sol. Plongée dans une ambiance sourde, confi-née et isolée sur le plan phonique par le matériau utilisé, l’expérience

isolated objects. ‘Transforming signs into instruments’, he likes to confess his passion by sublimating it into statues and exhibi-tions. In fact, after his major installations at the end of the nineties, not only did he have a go at making a scenography of his own works (Le Plein emploi, Strasbourg 2005), he also made two other shows with the works of other artists (The Photorealist Project, for the Lyon Biennale in 2003, and the sculptural Baron de Triqueti, in 2006). The possibilities offered by the art of the exhibition, from the Versailles gardens, through the techniques employed in constructivist propaganda, to the world’s fairs, constitute a series of fruitful analytical issues for an artist interested in the orchestration of power and its iconographic materialization.______Following this logic, Xavier Veilhan has responded to a number of public commissions in France, creating a grey monster in Tours (2006), a blue lion in

sensible de cet environnement synthétique dissèque les automa-tismes d’identification à travers le recours à de puissants symboles culturels. Veilhan les utilise tour à tour dans des oeuvres globales et des objets isolés. ‘Instrumenta- liser les signes’, il aime avouer sa passion convertie en statues et en

expositions. En effet, depuis les grandes installations de la fin des années 1990, Xavier Veilhan s’est frotté à l’exercice de la scénogra-phie de ses propres oeuvres (Le Plein emploi, Strasbourg, 2005), mais également d’oeuvres d’autres artistes (Projet Hyperréaliste réalisé à la Biennale de Lyon en 2003, ou

le sculptural Baron de Triqueti en 2006). Les dispositifs d’exposition, depuis le jardin de Versailles, en passant par les techniques de propagandes constructivistes, jusqu’aux grandes expositions universelles, constituent des enjeux analytiques féconds pour l’artiste, intéressé par l’orchestration du

____Le Plein emploi____

2005-2006Xavier Veilhan with scenographer Alexis Bertrand

____The Bear____

2010Painted polyurethane resin

270 x 176 x 135.5 cm

Bordeaux, and a bear, penguins and other characters in Lyon (2006). The archetype becomes here a catalyst that gives way to a reflection on the commemorative dimension of public statuary and on its action as a ‘sign’ in our urban everyday life.______

pouvoir et sa matérialisation iconographique.________Selon cette logique, Xavier Veilhan a répondu à des commandes pub-liques en France, réalisant un monstre gris à Tours (2004), un lion bleu à Bordeaux (2005), un ours, des pingouins et des personnages à Lyon (2006).

L’amorce archétypale donne lieu ici à une réflexion sur la dimension commémorative de la statuaire publique, son action ‘signe’ dans le quotidien urbain.________

__2__

____Catalogue of Works____

______When looking at a tree planted by a person who disappeared a long time ago, a garden may reveal how society interacts with nature. The plant growing here is not just a plant: it is the shadow of the desire our ancestor left behind him.______

_____En regardant un arbre planté par une personne disparue depuis longtemps, on peut comprendre qu’un jardin révèle l’interaction entre la nature et la société. La plante qui pousse ici n’est pas seulement une plante, mais aussi l’ombre du désir que l’un de nos ancêtres a laissé derrière lui._____

____Norman Foster____

2011Polished stainless steel

177 x 42 x 47 cmCourtesy Galerie Perrotin, Paris

____Vibration____

2010-2012Steel, polyurethane paint

239 x 610 x 190 cm Courtesy of the artist & Galerie Perrotin, Paris

____Le Gisant, Youri Gagarine____

2009Aluminium, polyurethane resin, polyurethane paint

76 x 450 x 186 cmCourtesy Galerie Perrotin, Paris

____Richard Rogers____

2010Aluminium

177 x 56 x 36 cm Prototype Xavier Veilhan Studio

____Alice____

2012Bronze, polyurethane paint

155 x 71 x 114 cmCourtesy Galerie Perrotin, Paris

____Rays____

2012 Elastic, steel

Site-specific installationCourtesy Galerie Perrotin, Paris

____Marine____

2012Bronze, steel, polyurethane paint

286 x 100 x 78 cmCourtesy Galerie Perrotin, Paris

____Marine aux Rayons____

2012Bronze, white gold, polyurethane paint, polyurethane resin, carbon

210 x 182 x 174 cmCourtesy Galerie Perrotin, Paris

____The Monument____

2011Polyurethane resin, wood, steel, paint, zinc, imitation leather, cut branches

225 x 815 x 540 cm Courtesy Galerie Perrotin, Paris

____Shark____

2008Polished stainless steel, epoxy painting

200 x 500 x 220 cmPrivate collection, Paris

____Debora____

2011Aluminium

200 x 55 x 33 cm Collection Sandra Gering, New York

____The Hatfield Mobile____

2012Carbon, fiberglass, aluminium, polypropylene, polyurethane resin, polyurethane paint

400 x 300 cm maximum diameter Courtesy Galerie Perrotin, Paris

__3__

____A Conversation____Xavier Veilhan and Jessica Lack

______It is important to me that people who come to see the show can move around, sit down, relax. I don’t want it to be a blank abstract space. It is for the people and it should provide interaction between what they look at and the mood they are in. It is very important they are comfortable and open to the experience that the art is leaving room for them.______

_____C’est important pour moi que les visiteurs qui découvrent l’exposition puissent aller et venir, s’asseoir et se détendre. Je ne veux pas que ce soit un espace vide ou abstrait. C’est un espace pensé pour eux afin d’établir des relations entre ce qu’ils regardent et leurs pensées. Je veux qu’ils se sentent bien pour être réceptifs à l’expérience à laquelle l’art les invite._____

Xavier Veilhan at his studio (2009)

_____Can we start at the beginning? When did you first become inter-ested in art?

_____Memories become stories, so what I remember is probably false. My parents were both very culturally-minded, and I have five sisters — a very lively household. I was in the middle, so I had to find my own way. There were always people playing music at home, which is something I was very bad at it. I was good at building small objects though, so I thought that might be something.

First I thought I might be a carpen-ter and do fine joinery. I used to look at my father building simple wooden boats that we would sail in the summer. Looking back I think that was quite symbolic. You build something you want to use: it’s almost a political statement. You use boats to go somewhere, to go fishing or camping. I was very seduced by the obviousness of this idea.

Also, to me reality is very complex and chaotic and art is a way of synthesizing it. People may think art is very blurry, but to me it is reality that is unreadable and art, being focused, is clear.

When I came to art school in Paris I was very happy to be in a big city. At the same time I was there to study art, which was very exciting but I wasn’t an artist. I became an artist when someone asked me what I was doing and I’d say ‘I am an artist’. Then I had to fulfil that statement.

_____This would have been the early 1980s. What were the domi-nant movements at that time and what were you interested in?

_____I was into in post-pop, con-ceptual art and minimalism. It was a time when music in general was more important to me than almost anything else. So clubbing, punk, hip-hop and the first electro were very important to me.

Visual art is fantastic. It is like a cloud that embraces the real. But music is more intense, and that led me to want to collaborate with the musicians I admire: Sébastien Tellier, Air, Christophe Chassol...

_____What is it you like about collaborating?

_____Musicians fascinate me. Singing and being able to play an instrument amazes me. There is a certain lyricism I can accept in music that I don’t accept in visual art. When art is too lyrical it’s just not for me, whereas this emphasis works in the musical field. When I collaborated with Air and Sébastien Tellier I found they didn’t have any theoretical pre-judgments about their playing. I find most of the concerts I go to quite ugly and conventional visually, but they are very intense experiences in other ways. I like to bring some of that poetical power into an exhibition.

The problem I often find with exhibitions is that they can be lifeless and morbid. I sometimes think they are like shells on a beach, with nothing living inside them. It is important to me that people who come to see the show can move around, sit down, relax. I don’t want it to be a blank abstract space. It is for the people and it should provide interaction between what they look at and the mood they are in. It is very important they are open to the room that art is leaving for them.

When working on an exhibition it is important that I see the place where I am going to exhibit. Even if my work is not site-specific, it is imper-ative that I get an impulse from the place itself just by visiting it.

_____So how long do you like to spend in a place where you are making a site-specific work of art?

_____I made a show in Japan last year, and after seeing the place we went to a restaurant with the curator and I made this drawing. Six months later when the show opened it was just the same as the drawing. But this is quite rare.

I’m often working on different projects simultaneously, so it’s about relaxing and getting an idea. Sometimes I have no ideas but that is interesting too, because the solution appears mysteriously, and these can end up being the best shows. It is like setting out on a long journey with no clue where you are going and then suddenly

you reach your destination. It’s like a dream that you cannot express. Art is a bit like that sometimes. The pressure only comes from a situation that you build yourself, yet unlike a surgeon or a fireman, if you don’t create anything, no one gets hurt.

The work I’m creating is only a tool to reach people’s feelings and understanding: art is the medium, not the goal. The starting point of any exhibition comes from the ambiance I want to create, using any means necessary. This often corresponds to the place hosting me, but this doesn’t mean it is site-specific: it can survive in another environment.

_____Do you ever feel the pressure of the people around you who are investing their time and effort into your show?

_____I relish the attention, and it is actually very pleasant. I was working on my own for the first ten years and only a few people were interested in what I was doing. This was fine with me but I was always hoping for someone to react to what I was doing. Then it grew and now I am in the happy position where I can have many co-workers.

_____Now you are much more established in the art world, how do you view it?

_____The present situation is very unpredictable, very messy but in a good way. When I started in the late 1980s some people thought that they could predict the global situation in the art world, but by the late 90s that wasn’t possible anymore.

This situation is good for me. For example, I was in L.A. recently and discovered a lot of artists from the early 1960s and 1970s who I didn’t know before because they were too localised or not represented in the market.

The globalisation of the art world is an opportunity in many ways, as it makes competition pointless. It is as if there are a great multitude of different races being run simulta-neously and you can only compete in one.

Preparatory sketches for Marine aux Rayons (2011)

Preparatory sketch for Marine aux Rayons (2011)

Scanning of model, Marine aux Rayons (2011)

Sketch model of Rays (2011)

First proposed sketch for Rays at Hatfield’s Knot Garden for Promenade (2011)

Monceau (2008)

_____Do you think the rise of art fairs has contributed to this mess‚ as you say?

_____I always force myself to go to art fairs. It is not the commercial aspect I object to at art fairs, it is the sampling. You can see many artworks but not a single exhibition. What is great are the exhibitions that are put on in the city’s galleries and museums during the art fair, like in London or Basel. Ultimately the tempo is always driven by the market.

_____Hatfield House is not the first 17th century building you have shown work in. You also had an exhibition at Versailles. Is it like a conversation between the two?

_____Well, I was invited to make a show in Versailles as well as in Hatfield. But I never woke up in the morning and thought I would love to make a show in Versailles or Hatfield, somebody had to pro-pose it to me. I think I was asked to exhibit at Versailles because I have this ability to have a dialogue with history and also because the physi-cal scale of my art is suited to the grandiose nature of the open air of Versailles. You wouldn’t invite Richard Prince to exhibit works in Versailles for example, because his work is not suited to the place. But you could invite Richard Serra.

What drives me is my host’s desire for something that I can create. The challenge is to make the curator’s invitation coincide with a dialogue with visitors; the people who visit places like Hatfield with no expectations of what they might see, or knowledge that the art of a living artist will be there. Catching people’s attention is more interesting in this context than having a ready gallery audience who are devoted to look at what I am doing.

During my stay in Hatfield, I was overcome by an unexpected feeling where I felt very connected to the people, their relationship to nature and their super-European feeling. But at the same time there were very unfamiliar aspects. What is great with art is the unexpected part. I never thought I would have a show in a British stately home. But this becomes your situation,

your home for a time and you develop a strong relationship with the people and the place.

There is such an intense history at Hatfield House, but I am not interested in looking at it like an art historian, but as a living artist trying to focus on the compulsions that led to its creation. Ultimately, I want to try to find out how it could be captured and translated today.

_____Tell me about The Hatfield Mobile, which will be inside the house.

_____To me mobiles evoke the insides of people’s heads, their thoughts as much as a cosmic vision on a wider scale. I am very interested in perception and brain science, which is still very much a mystery. The relationship between what is rational and mechanical as opposed to what is conceptual and emotional is central to me. With a mobile, although you design its shape, it will never be that shape, because it is constantly changing. You design a programme of things happening that you don’t control, an interaction with the invisible air moving around. It is a bit like a kaleidoscope in which there are billions of possibilities. It is also about time, this cosmic feeling of revolutions. Because it is suspend-ed and not bolted to the wall or to the floor, it is a bit like a cloud or a fog. Of course when you mention the word ‘mobile’, people always relate it to Alexander Calder. I love Calder, but I think mobiles have so much potential, that there are many unexplored possibilities.

_____Is it about the relationship between time and space too?

_____I don’t know why but there is certainly a relationship to clocks and the measuring of time and the mechanical devices that do this.

I remember when I was thinking about the show for Versailles I was very aware of how big the space was and how foreboding the archi-tecture was, and I wanted to make something light, something in the air, and I thought a mobile would be perfect for that. It was constantly moving, but it was so big and was moving so slowly that you couldn’t notice it. It was making the space

like the building: different each time you looked at it.

_____But you also root some of your sculptures to the ground using a plinth. Is this your contradictory nature?

_____Probably, but good art is like a constantly changing question. The simple fact that it is there is already a question in itself. The space between the concept and the reality of physical presence is one of these questions, the abstract and the very practical. In Hatfield, I used the trunks of trees that were due to be removed. I had them cut at different heights so that they could be used as plinths. But the statues displayed on these natural pedestals were initially conceived to stand at the same height as the viewer. So it’s always back and forth between these ideas. I spend my days working on practicalities: Is it too heavy? Will it work? In the end what I want from the people leaving Hatfield after seeing the exhibition is to have a certain feel-ing. What people will get from the show is my goal, not the devices I’m using for it.

_____Other than the mobile, all your other sculptures are situated outside. The British landscape is very different to the formality of French gardens. Is this something that interests you?

_____Very much. The garden was a place for politics, love and parties in the 17th century. It was a kind of metaphorical nature. It shows the development of civilizations. I’m curious about French, Japanese and English gardens. You have this fading of civilization into nature and vice-versa. People who go for a walk in a forest are not in a natural environment: if it were an actual virgin forest they wouldn’t even be able to walk through it. So there are a lot of artificial elements intricated in the landscape, like a road going through a mountain.

At Hatfield there is this situation where one half of the house is the familial home to the Marquess and Marchioness of Salisbury and the other half is for visitors. It’s an interesting hybrid of society, the attraction of the royal family and of nobility as tourism, and why

______What drives me is my host’s desire for something that I can create. The challenge is to make the curator’s invitation coincide with a dialogue with visitors; people who visit places like Hatfield with no expectations of what they might see, or knowledge that the art of a living artist will be there. Catching people’s attention is more interesting in this context than having a ready gallery audience who are devoted to looking at what I am doing.______

_____Ce qui me plaît, c’est le désir de mon hôte pour ce que je suis capable de créer. L’enjeu est de faire coïncider l’invitation du commissaire et le dialogue avec les visiteurs: le public des lieux comme Hatfield ne s’attend pas forcément à y trouver l’exposition d’un artiste vivant. C’est plus intéressant de capter alors son attention, plutôt que de s’adresser au public averti d’une galerie._____

Installing Vibration (2010)

______I spend a lot of time thinking about and trying to anticipate the audience’s response to my work. But I fail most of the time, and that is what I like: this back and forth dialogue between the artwork that I make and its reality. If it lasts after I die I won’t have a clue where it goes and how it will be received and understood. At a certain point it has to live on its own.______

_____J’essaie toujours de prévoir et d’anticiper la réaction du pub-lic face à mon travail (c’est même là l’essentiel de mon travail). La plupart du temps, je n’y parviens pas, et cela me plaît: c’est un dialogue entre ce que je crois créer et sa réalité effective. Si ce travail me survit: que deviendra t-il et comment sera-t-il reçu? A un certain moment, il devra vivre par lui-même._____

Norman Foster (2011) at Studio Xavier Veilhan

they choose to bring art to this place. A garden is not a white cube: I love the open-air feeling, having to deal with questions of scale, with the weather and the other visual elements like the trees, the insects and the animals. You don’t look at things but pass by them in a garden; it turns the visual experience into a promenade.

_____Do they then become conver-sational pieces?

_____Yes. I had a revelation when I was working at Versailles. Look-ing at the Water Parterres I realised that the work on the landscape was comparable to earth works, like Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty. It’s like a huge artificial landscape work that could be erased in a few years if no-one cares for it. The lakes of Versailles were emptied during the Second World War because the reflection could be used to help the planes locate Paris and bomb it: then all these plants started to grow and in two years they had trees. What seems to be permanent in a garden is always temporary, provisional.

_____Can I ask you about colour? There are certain works in the show, like Alice, which here is this amazing dark blue, but was a striking yellow at the Orchestra exhibition in Paris.

_____Well, monochrome colour is more like a question than an affirmation. People ask, Why is this naked woman yellow, or blue? It’s not a question that leads to any answer.

In terms of perceptions, a colour is a light frequency: what you see is the only colour that the material didn’t absorb. You see yellow, but all the colours are there. Everything has elements of every colour, you just don’t always see them. When you use monochrome colour you are not adding something to reality, it is more like cutting out a silhou-ette. It is a space preserved for the viewer where they can shelter their own vision.

In some situations you want to alert people with colour; at other times you want to make something quiet and beautiful. Monochrome is simply a way to celebrate shape

and form. There is also something interesting in the arbitrary nature of a colour choice. It is difficult to explain, but it could not be as good if it was done differently. I some-times have difficulties with col-lectors because they would have bought a piece of art if it had been green and not red. But it is red. It’s not about choice, it’s the fact that it is red that is the reality of it. It’s not something I am very clear about to be honest. What I do know is that when I choose to make a sculpture with two colours, nobody asks me about the colour!

_____I would like to ask about Marine with Rays. It looks like she has a force field around her...

_____This is a motif rooted in the golden rays that you see in Baroque and Renaissance art, in works by artists like Bernini, and it is usually presented as the spreading of the power and the light. As a modern artist I like to revisit these ideas of representing energy, but it is not about religion anymore, it is about transmissions and frequencies. There is a great poetry in photosynthesis, in the transmission of colour, sound and image. With Marine with Rays I wanted to celebrate everyday people in their grace.

_____You say you see yourself as a modern artist, not a post-modern artist. Could you explain why?

_____I never understood what post-modernism meant. It is a shame to live in any post- era. I clearly remember being on the fringe of adulthood, feeling so good and full of energy: this feeling was rooted in the modern. Modernity is like a strong baseline, a stream of energy leading you to make things better.

_____How do you retain that stream of energy, the enigmatic power in your own work? Do you try to hold something back when interviewed?

_____I am always happy to talk about my work, but sometimes I am wrong. People’s interpretations are more important than what I am actually doing. If I do something and it is misunderstood then it is not about you, it’s about me. But it’s not a linear process, it is more like the fourth dimension, something

mysterious and hard to describe. Not religious or metaphysical, it is just there, like a wave. There is a visible part and a non-visible part in our surroundings. For me good art is about revealing the non-visible part.

_____You seem to spend a lot of time anticipating the audience’s response to your work.

_____I do, but I fail most of the time, and that is what I like: this back and forth dialogue between the artwork that I make and its reality. If it lasts after I die I won’t have a clue where it goes and how it will then be received and understood. At a certain point it has to live on its own.

_____I have noticed in reading about your work that critics like to make references to science fiction.

_____I am touched by the poetry of science more than science fiction. I am not a scientist but I think there is a certain approach to science through mathematics and physics that is very close to pure poetry. But no, science fiction is like an old concept to me. I am interested in the history of science and its techniques, because things are very linear and then a rupture happens. Something like going to the moon, something big, and in art it is the same. You can’t search for this, you can only go forward. History builds itself in unexpected ways, and the present is often a surprise to me.

_____The show will also include sculptures of the architects Richard Rogers and Norman Foster, but you have reduced their appearances.

_____I always want to catch both people’s appearance and their essence at the same time. When you reduce the definition it is like the person has faded in your memory.

It is like seeing someone you think you know walking down the street but it is too far to see them clearly. What makes you recognize them? It is not because their coat is blue, it is their posture, a subtle detail of attitude: there is some-thing mysterious about it. I want the sculptures to be like that.

Preparatory sketches for Orchestra (2011)

Model of The Monument (2011)

Work in progress, The Monument (2011)

Preparatory sketches for Le Gisant, Youri Gagarine (2009)

Model of Le Gisant, Youri Gagarine (2009)

Exhibition view, solo show, Galerie Jennifer Flay (1994)

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____Biography____Xavier Veilhan

b. 1963Lives and works in Paris

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

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2000

____Promenade, Hatfield House, Hatfield____Architectone Los Angeles, VDL House, Richard Neutra, Los Angeles____La Conservera, Murcia____(IN)balance, The Phillips Collection, Washington ____Orchestra, Galerie Perrotin, Paris____Spacing, Ilju Foundation, Seoul____Dark Matter, Andréhn-Schiptjenko, Stockholm____Free Fall, Espace Louis Vuitton, Tokyo

____Mobile at Maison Louis Vuitton,New York____Xavier Veilhan, Galerie Perrotin, Miami____Le Carrosse, Place de la République, Metz____Interacting with History: Xavier Veilhan at The Mount, The Mount, Lenox____Kukje Gallery, Seoul____RAL 5015, Artcurial, Paris____Sorry We’re Closed, Brussels

____Veilhan Versailles, Château de Versailles____Sophie, work in situ, Costes Restaurant Le Germain, Paris

____Furtivo, Galerie Perrotin, Paris____Furtivo, Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli, Torino

____Metric, Gering & López Gallery, New York____Andréhn-Schiptjenko, Stockholm

____Les Habitants, Palais des Congrès de la Communauté Urbaine de Lyon (with Renzo Piano Building Workshop), Lyon (public project)____Miami Snowflakes, Galerie Perrotin, Miami____Sculptures Automatiques, Galerie Perrotin, Paris

____Le Plein emploi, MAMC, Strasbourg____Le Projet Hyperréaliste, Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, traveling to National Academy Museum, New York____People as Volume, Andréhn-Schiptjenko, Stockholm____Fantôme, Centro de Arte Caja de Burgos, Burgos____Éléments Célestes, artistic conception, Chanel Jewelry, traveling to Taïwan, Paris, New York, Hong Kong, Tokyo____Le Lion, Place Stalingrad, Bordeaux (public project)

____Vanishing Point, Espace 315, Centre Pompidou, Paris____Light Machines, Fondation Vasarely, Aix-en-Provence, traveling to Ecuries de Saint-Hugues, Cluny____Keep the Brown, Galeria Javier Lopez, Madrid____Big Mobile, Forum, Centre Pompidou, Paris____Le Monstre, Place du Marché, Tours (public project)

____Keep the Brown, Sandra Gering Gallery, New York

____Barbican Centre, London____Installation from the workshop, Center for Contemporary Art, CCA Kitakyushu, Japan____Konsthallen, Göteborg

____Fundació Joan Miró, Centre d’Estudis d’arte contemporani, Barcelona____Andréhn-Schiptjenko, Stockholm

____Le Magasin, Grenoble; curated by Yves Aupetitallot and Lionel Bovier____La Ford T, 5th floor terrace, Centre Pompidou, Paris, curated by Lionel Bovier____Sandra Gering Gallery, New York____The Rhinoceros, Yves St. Laurent, New York

____ Free Fall, Xavier Veilhan, ed. Espace Louis Vuiton Tokyo, Paris

____Xavier Veilhan, Des expositions comme des paysages, ed. Beaux Arts éditions, Paris____Xavier Veilhan 1999-2009, ed. Jean-Pierre Criqui, with texts by Jean-Jacques Aillagon, Jean-Pierre Criqui, Laurent Le Bon, Arnauld Pierre, Pierre Senges, Michel Gauthier, JRP | Ringier, Zurich

____Light Machines, ed. Les Presses du Réel

____Le Plein emploi, with texts by Michel Gauthier, Patrick Javault, Hakan Nilsson andJohn Welchman (in French and English), exhibition catalogue, Musée d’Art moderneet contemporain, Strasbourg____Fantôme, with text by Fernandeo Casto Florez, Centro de Arte Caja de Burgos, Burgos

____Vanishing Point, with texts by Alison Gingeras and Christine Macel, Centre Pompidou, Paris

____Xavier Veilhan, with texts by Dan Cameron, Liam Gillick, Alison Gingeras, John Miller, Le Magasin, Grenoble

____Tableaux, 1997-1998, Center for Contemporary Art, Kitakyushu

____Xavier Veilhan, Centre de Création Contemporaine, Tours; FRAC Languedoc Roussillon, Montpellier; Consortium, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Dijon; Editions JRP, Geneva

____Xavier Veilhan, artist book, Galerie Jennifer Flay, Paris

____Un Centimètre Égal un Mètre, with texts by Eric Troncy, Liam Gillick (in French and in English), exhibition catalogue, A.P.A.C., Centre d’Art Contemporain, Nevers & Paris

____Xavier Veilhan: Un Peu de Biologie, with an interview by Nicolas Bourriaud (in Italian and in English), exhibition catalogue, Galleria Fac-Simile, Milano

Solo Exhibitions and Public Projects

2011

2009

2007

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1999

1995

1992

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1990

____Le monde comme volonté et comme papier peint; curated by Stephanie Moisdon, Le Consortium, Dijon____Plaisirs de France – art et culture français de la Renaissance à aujourd’hui, Baku Museum of Modern Art, Baku; traveling to Almaty

____The Deer, Le Consortium, Dijon____French Window: Looking at Contemporary Art Through the Marcel Duchamp Prize, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo____Look Into My Eyes, Mitterand+Cramer Fine Art, Geneva

____Lumens, Valls Museum, Valls____Chefs-d’œuvre?, Centre Pompidou, Metz____Le Mont Analogue, Centro Cultural Metropolitan, Quito, traveling to Montevideo____Art for the World (The Expo), The City of Forking Path, World Expo 2010, Shanghai____Catch Me!, Kunsthaus Graz

____Le sort probable de l’homme qui avait avalé le fantôme, Conciergerie, Paris____Dream Time, La Grotte, Mas d’Azil____N’importe Quoi, Musée d’Art Contemporain de Lyon, Lyon

____Demolition Party, Royal Monceau Palace Hotel, Paris____Allsopp Contemporary, London

____Airs de Paris, Centre Pompidou, Paris (La Cabane Éclatée aux Paysages Fantômes, a project with Daniel Buren; Aérolite, a musical show with Air)____Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Munich

____Kit O’Parts, CAN, Neuchâtel____La Force de L’art / Grand Palais 2006, Paris____Supernova: Experience Pommery #3, Domaine Pommery, Reims____Thank You For the Music, Simon Lee Gallery, London____Collection and New Acquisitions, Viktor Pinchuk Foundation, Kiev____Boucle, Jardin des Tuileries; Ville Nouvelle, Cour de l’Hôtel de Ville, Nuit Blanche, Paris____InTRANSIT from Object to Site, David Winton Bell Gallery, Brown University, Providence

____Water (Without You I’m Not) Thoughts of a Fish in a Deep Sea, 3rd Biennial ofContemporary Art of Valencia, Valencia____Fundacion La Caixa Collection, 20 years with Contemporary Art: New Acquisitions, Caixa Forum, Barcelona____De lo Real y lo Ficticio: Arte contemporaneo de Francia, Museo de Arte Moderno de Mexico, Mexico City, traveling to Bass Museum, Miami

____None of the Above, Swiss Institute Contemporary Art, New York____L’Eblouissement, Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris____Contrepoint, Musée du Louvre, Paris____Métamorphoses et Clonage, Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal, Montreal

____It Happened Tomorrow, 7th Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art, curated by Le Consortium, Lyon____Split, Sandra Gering Gallery, New York____JRP Editions Selected Multiples, Galerie Edward Mitterand, Geneva traveling to Galeria Javier Lopez, Madrid & Raum Aktueller Kunst, Martin Janda, Vienna____Coollustre, Collection Lambert, Avignon, curated by Eric Troncy____25th edition of International Biennial of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana, Slovenia, curated by Christophe Chérix and Lionel Bovier____Glass Wall, device conceived for Faits et Gestes, Atelier de mécanique, Parc desateliers SNCF, Arles

Selected Group Exhibitions

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2011

2010

2009

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2005

2004

2003

____Audiolab 2, Palais de Tokyo, Paris____Collections Croisées, CAPC, Bordeaux____La Part de L’autre, Carré d’art, Nîmes____Les Animaux Sortent de Leur Réserve, Centre Pompidou, Paris____Sculpture Now, Palm Beach Institute for Contemporary Art, Palm Beach____The Speed Art Museum, Louisville____Optical Optimism, Galerie Simonne Stern, New Orleans____Light X Eight, Jewish Museum, New York____2002 Taipei Biennial: Great Theatre Of The World, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan

____A New Domestic Landscape, Galeria Javier Lopez, Madrid____Métamorphoses et Clonage, Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal

____Jour de Fête, Centre Pompidou, Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris____Xn00, Espace des Arts, Chalon-sur-Saone, curated by L. Bovier in collaboration with E. Lebovici, JC Masséra, S. Moisdon Trembley, H.U. Obrist, assisted by Nicolas Trembley____Over the Edges, S.M.A.K., Gent, Belgium____The Collective Works, Centre d’art Contemporain de Toulouse____Art Unlimited, Art’31, Basel____L’oeuvre collective, Les Abattoirs, Toulouse, curated by Pascal Pique____Vivre Sa Vie, Tramway, Glasgow; curated by Tanya Leighton

2002

2001

2000

Bibliography and Solo Exhibition Catalogues

Lord and Lady Salisbury would like to thank all those who have been involved in bringing about this exciting Franco-British project:

_____Emmanuel Perrotin, Sandra Gering and Xavier Veilhan for the loan of these exceptional sculptures; _____Galerie Perrotin for its continuing support; _____Fluxus (The Franco-British Fund for Contemporary Art); _____Caroline Ferreira and Emeline Vincent of the Institut Français in London.

Particular thanks to Xavier Veilhan, whose artistic vision has driven this exhibition, and to those who have brought it into being:

_____The Atelier Xavier Veilhan: Diane Arques, Alexis Bertrand, Danielle Cardoso, Thomas Fort, Sophie Gaffori, Violeta Kreimer, Dimitri Mallet, Alessandro Moroder, Guillaume Rambouillet, Raphaël Raynaud, Tony Regazzoni, Laurent Pinon, Florian Sumi and Mahaut Vittu de Kerraoul for providing excellent educational, research and technical support_____The staff at Galerie Perrotin: Valentine Blondel, Héloïse Le Carvennec, Pamela Eschylles, Andrea Goffo, and Emmanuelle Orenga de Gaffory_____ Violeta Kreimer, Dimitri Mallet, Raphaël Raynaud and Florian Sumi, expertly aided by Dave Williams, John Gallagher and the team at Mtec for installation.

Thank you also to:

_____Technical collaborators Enzyme Design, Fonderie Fusion, Art Stone Deco, TPP and Brionne Industrie._____Nicholas Jeeves, for the excellent design of this book and his ongoing support of arts projects at Hatfield;_____Letizia Reuss for her assis-tance with the translation of texts; _____Bill Davis and Emtone Print for their dedication, patience and expertise in printing this book.

Finally we would like to thank:

_____Robert Burton, Arts Project Manager, Hatfield House;_____Nick Moorhouse, Director of Business Development, Hatfield House; _____The team at Hatfield, including Elaine Gunn and Cherise Fairman, and Head Gardener Alastair Gunn, for their important contribution to this project.

Acknowledgments

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