Claude Rutault / Allan McCollum “À Vendre, Exposition” at Mfc – Michele Didier Gallery, Paris

In the beginning there was a proposal made by Claude Rutault to Allan McCollum to paint over a Collection of Plaster Surrogates by McCollum (1988) in the same color as the wall where it hangs.

In the beginning a proposal was made. To paint over the already painted. To cover-up plaster and enamel. But in reality it’s much more than just a proposal; we are actually dealing with a new form of Rutault’s définitions/méthodes, a term used by the artist to designate the texts which establish the “existence conditions”*1 of his works. With “A Vendre, Exposition” at mfc-michèle didier gallery, Rutault pushes painterly gesture to the extreme, questioning the limits of a collaborative work and flouting the concept of artistic paternity in order to widen his scope of possibilities. Subsequently, original and individual titles seem no longer relevant.

Read our interview with legendary French painter Claude Rutault and his friend the equally legendary American conceptual artist Lawrence Weiner in Purple. Click here to read

On view until June 18th, 2016, at Mfc – Michele Didier Gallery, 66 rue Notre-Dame de Nazareth, 75003 Paris.

Photo Inès Manai