Urban - NOMINEE: Pierre Descamps

Pierre Descamps´ body of photographic, wall objects and sculptural work is largely centred on a portrait of urban architecture. His well-defined, geometric focus emphasises the formalism of urban constructions and the city barriers used by skateboarders. A second reading reveals however that his works enact a kind of periphrasis with the materials, confronting two contrasting cultures: popular culture and another more elitist one, grounded in the sophisticated legacy of twentieth-century conceptual movements: the aseptic imagery of the Dusseldorf School (the Bechers, Thomas Ruff, Thomas Demand) and the inexpressive influence of Pop (Ed Ruscha, Baldessari). While his sculptures and photos recall minimalist geometric compositions, the materials he employs and his way of making the works have completely different connotations, and on the other hand, unlike the popular iconography one usually finds in skateboarding culture, Descamps´ images are aseptic and devoid of human expression. Showing physical work without workers, skateboarding without skateboarding, without skaters, when it is a practice that has its greatest ally in human relations, is undoubtedly a way to monumentalize an exercise that takes place in the streets, in a natural way, and that could be put in close relationship with many other spontaneous meetings that at times shake the foundations of the established.


Serie “Monuments”:
In this series „Monuments“, it is worth underscoring his use of offset, a reproduction method proper to print culture. Having said that, despite being printed on low-quality paper like that used in magazines (therein the titles allusive to page numbers) the artist materialises the work in a single copy which he later hand-frames himself. The artist also places a high value on other photographers removed from conventional art circuits, experts who portray skaters doing their thing. Mike Blabac, Allen Ying and Michael Burnett work with focus, light and angles from a completely different perspective to the above-mentioned artists, foregrounding in their images the body and expressiveness. Though in Descamps’ photos the figure itself (people, cars, etc.) does not make an appearance, the shadow of its presence lingers.

About author:
Solo exhibitions:

2018 Site-Specifics, Galerie The Goma, Madrid, Spain
2016 Monuments 2006-2015, Galerie The Goma, Madrid, Spain
2014 Common Places-common spaces, Galerie The Goma, Madrid, Spain
2013 The Wall, Galerie Catherine Issert, Paris, France
2012 The Hole, Galerie Catherine Issert, St Paul de Vence, France

Independant projects:
2020 7 Sculptures for Skalitzer Park II, Berlin, Germany
Sculpture for Hallesches Tor, Berlin, Germany
Sculpture for Spreewaldplatz II, Berlin, Germany
Sculpture for Wassertorplatz III, Berlin, Germany
Sculpture for Skalitzer Park, Berlin, Germany
2019 Sculpture for Adalberstrasse, Berlin, Germany
Sculpture for Spreewaldplatz, Berlin, Germany
Sculpture for Nordbahnhof, Berlin, Germany
Sculpture for Ebertplatz, Köln, Germany
2018 Sculpture for Wassertorplatz II, Berlin, Germany
Sculpture for Möckernbrücke, Berlin, Germany
Sculpture for CVO, Berlin, Germany
2017 Sculpture for Gleisdreieck, Berlin, Germany
Sculpture for ICC, Berlin, Germany
2015 Sculpture for Wassertorplatz, Berlin, Germany

Group shows (selection):
2019 Déclics analogiques, galerie Catherine Issert, St Paul de Vence, France
Solo 36, Galerie Gold + Beton, Köln, Germany
48H Neuköln, MBU Skatepark, Berlin, Germany
2018 Transition, Kunstpreis 2018, kommunale Galerie, Haus am Kleistpark, Berlin, Germany
D´après Morandi, Galerie Backslash, Paris, France
2017 2+1, Galerie Catherine Issert, St Paul de Vence, France
2015 Histoire de peintres, Galerie Catherine Issert, St Paul de Vence, France
Wish you were here, Galerie Catherine Issert, Saint Paul de Vence, France
2014 Queso de Cobra, St-Jacques de Compostelle, Spain
Summer, Galerie Catherine Issert, Saint Paul de Vence, France
2013 Y ia, duo show with Xavier Theunis, Galerie Catherine Issert, Paris France
Verliebete Künstler (und lachende Dritte), Berlin, Germany
Entrée libre mais non obligatoire, Villa Arson, Nice , France
Commissariat pour un arbre, Crystal Palace, Bordeaux, France
La dernière vague, Surf, Skateboard and custom culture in contemporary art, La friche de la belle de Mai, Marseille, France
2011 Le bal des débutantes, Klemm’s Galerie , Berlin, Germany
1975-2011, cycle 5 of 6, Contemporary Art and the Côte d’Azur, Galerie Catherine Issert, St Paul de Vence, France
The sculpture otherwise, Mougins, France
Installation at open sky, Coaraze, France
2009 Discocactus, Exotische Garten, Monaco.
One to One, Grand Palais, Paris, France
2008 Moi et les autres II / Me and the Others II, Galerie Catherine Issert, St Paul de Vence, France
Still loving You, Galerie des Ponchettes, Nice, France
Pierre Descamps & Gaël Peltier, Galerie Catherine Issert, St Paul de Vence, France
Mille Baci from Bubaque, Boubaque, Guinée-Bissau.
2007 With a little Help from my Friends, 4 Wheels, Nice, France
2005 Le Dojo, Le Dojo, Nizza, France
2004 Uno, uno, Prima, Palazzo Duccale, Cuneo, Italy
Génération 2004, Galerie des Ponchettes, Nice, France
2003 Lee 3 Tau ceti Armory Show, Villa Arson, Nice, France

Price, Residencies... :
2020 Residency «Résidence croisée», Nice, France
2019 Spallart Prize Salzburg