L'Almanach 23 : "Kleinplastik (abstrakte)"

With Sylvie Auvray, Étienne Béothy, Simone Boisecq, Pol Bury, Agustín Cárdenas, Chaouki Choukini, Parvine Curie, Maxime Descombin, Eugène Dodeigne, Émile Gilioli, Étienne Hajdu, Wifredo Lam, Bertrand Lavier, Matthew Lutz-Kinoy, Étienne Martin, Georges Mathieu, Anita Molinero, Claudine Monchaussé, Alexandre Noll, Marta Pan, Alicia Penalba, Daniel Pommereulle, Germaine Richier, Yerassimos Sklavos, Francisco Sobrino, François Stahly, Takis, Natsuko Uchino, Gilbert Valentin, Bernar Venet, Claude Viseux

Acknowledgements: the artists, galerie Allen, Paris, galerie Pierre-Alain Challier, Paris, galerie Christophe Gaillard, Paris, Fondation Marta Pan & André Wogenscky, Green Art Gallery, Dubai, galerie Jean-Marc Lelouch, Association "Les Archanges", Gilbert & Lilette Valentin, matali crasset et Francis Fichot, galerie le Minotaure, Paris, galerie Mitterand, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon, Alain Panhard et Fabrice de Murat, D. Ray and RCM Galerie, Paris.

The group exhibition component of "L’Almanach 23" departs from the usual Almanach series format, where each room on the building’s ground floor is assigned to a single artist. Instead, it brings together around thirty artists who work in a particular genre called Kleinplastik (German for “small-scale sculpture") and favour an abstract aesthetic. This stands in contrast with the majority of other artists invited to the Consortium Museum for solo shows, who tend to present work variously focused on the human figure.

While size would seem to be uniting factor here, the actual selection criteria are generational and aesthetic (or, at the very least, decorative). 
Covering a period that extends from the post-war institutionalization of contemporary art to the present day, and focusing on a national landscape that accommodates refugees and voluntary exiles, among others, the exhibition touches on a range of styles, from lyrical abstract sculpture to performative or visual kinetics, from geometric abstraction to today’s raw ceramics.
Sculpture is all about ductility and plasticity, moulding and casting, welding and assembly. It’s about materials hard and soft: wood and resin, wrought iron and patinated bronze, forge metals and foundry metals, plastic and terracotta, earthenware and stoneware...
The dimensions of these objects are domestic—they’re suited for placement on coffee tables, shelves, entryway consoles, and living-room display cabinets, as well as the pedestals they’re sold with.
Here, modest verticality prevails over horizontal sprawl, creating a “forest of signs” planted on a podium that invites the eye to wander and explore.

The birthplace of modern art, Paris was once a hothouse for modernity in general. Thanks to historical inertia and the persistence of its legend, the city continues to entice members of all diasporas to visit or make it their permanent home. In recent years, Paris seems to have entered a new phase with the arrival of determined young travellers from the world over. A positive development indeed!

— Franck Gautherot & Seungduk Kim