Past is Present
One of the most exciting things about the ‘Modern Classicisms’ project is seeing how our work here in London has in turn helped to spur other projects internationally. One case in point is the opening of Léo Caillard’s exhibition Past is Present in southern France: you can read the press release here, following the opening of the show on 16 March 2018.
Caillard’s exhibition has been timed to coincide with The Classical Now exhibition in London, and has been hosted by our partner for the show, the MACM (Musée d’Art Classique de Mougins). The Classical Now selected some twenty or so pieces from Mougins, bringing many of them to London for the first time; two of our ‘student ambassadors’ on the project (Abi Walker and Belinda Martín Porras) also spent the summer of 2017 collaborating with the Mougins team through a special Erasmus+ partnership.
Working with Caillard, our partners in Mougins – led by the indefatigable Leisa Paoli and Bénédicte Montain – consequently came up with a plan for an exhibition at MACM that complements what we have attempted in London. Part of their thinking was pragmatic – aimed at ‘filling in’ the gaps left by pieces lent to London. But another part was to ask Caillard to devise ways of developing the agenda behind The Classical Now by way of his own distinctive interventions and installations in the museum.
Caillard’s Mougins show is wholly in keeping with his tongue-in-cheek, but deeply provocative, takes on classical traditions. Among our favourite pieces is the statue Venus Sine (installed in the case where Yves Klein’s Venus Bleue usually resides – when not in sojourn in Somerset House…). Caillard transforms a bust of the goddess into a majestic spiral – installed alongside other ‘Venuses’ by the likes of Andy Warhol and Salvador Dalí.
The Mougins show has already caused quite a press sensation – with coverage in both France (cf. also here) and the UK (cf. also here). We’re also delighted that Léo should be the lynchpin between our respective UK and France exhibitions: alongside a giant print of one of Caillard’s Hipsters in Stone series in Bush House Arcade, the exterior of our London venue for The Classical Now has also been dressed up in typically Caillardian fashion.
You can read more about Léo Caillard’s work in the interview that features in the book accompanying The Classical Now – on sale, too, at MACM. Léo also features in the film about the exhibition, which can be viewed here.
Past is Present runs at MACM (Musée d’Art Classique de Mougins) from 16 March – 27 May 2018, in partnership with The Classical Now and ‘Modern Classicisms’ project at King’s College London.
