Page 126 - Flaunt 170 - The Phoenix Issue - Ever Anderson

CLAUDE RUTAULT. DE-FINITION/METHOD: “MONOCHROMES” 1994. PAINT ON CANVAS. VARIABLE DIMENSIONS ACCORDING TO THE ACTUALIZATION. EXHIBITION VIEW OF “PICASSO/RUTAULT. GRAND ÉCART” AT MUSÉE PICASSO, PARIS, 2018. © COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND PERROTIN. PHOTO: CLAIRE DORN. Since the ‘70s, french conceptual artist claude Rutault’s “de-finition/methods” have rewritten the narrative of artist as sole architect and generator, alternatively placing agency on galleries, collectors, and institutions as “charge-tak- ers”—the people who actualize the work from a set of criteria decreed by Rutault, interpreted subjectively. Thus, the artist’s “de-finition/methods” operate as eternal works-in-progress, eschewing a normal work’s lifecycle, and extracting ideas of accountability, relativity, and temporality. “I write paintings,” Rutault says. While he has exhibited handily across the pond at hallowed institutions like Centre Georges Pompidou, Musée d’Orsay, MAMCO Genéve, and multiple iterations of Docu- menta, Rutault’s output in the States has been historically narrower, which makes it all the more momentous that this year, he will oversee his inaugural West Coast solo exhibition at MOCA’s The Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood. For this edition’s site-specific art cover, Rutault has kindly decreed his “de-finition/method’ from 1994: small rectangular, round, oval, or square canvases, incompletely framed by geometric shapes of our choosing, and painted the same color (our choosing: a rich springtime marigold!) as the wall on which they are hung. It is Flaunt who is the charge-taker, proud to manifest our 170th cover as birthed from our collective imaginations. Rise, Phoenix! Rise, Rutault! Allons-y! I know that you are resurrecting a number of site-specific works from the 1990s. Can you speak about how these histor- ic works will be presented in Los Angeles? This is an exciting moment for me to reassess some of my his- toric pieces. On the first floor of the exhibition, I will pres- ent works from the 1970s through the 1990s, which includes “de-finition/method: puppets,” (1994) from the Collection Billarant in Paris. Your work often plays with space and language. In particu- lar, this new body of work draws inspiration from the natural world. Can you talk more about this connection in your work? Pacific Design Center is so expansive that it would be a missed opportunity to present only wall works. Instead, it was a pri- ority to activate the entirety of the space. For this show, I was inspired by nature to create a new work entitled “seasoned painting.” The underlying idea is to present paintings without a distinct subject matter. The work comprises hundreds of 120 S S