Exhibition Review: Annette Messager: Comme Si (As If)
Annette Messager, Dessus-dessous, 2019. Courtesy Marian Goodman Gallery, Paris, Londres, New York. Photo : Atelier Annette Messager. © Adagp, Paris, 2022
Written by Katie Grierson
Copy Edited by Jana Massoud
Tucked in northern France, just off the border of Belgium, is the city Lille. Nicknamed the “Capital of Flanders”, Lille was a struggling city before the 90’s, when the collapse of the textile and manufacturing industries brought it to a halt. Today, however, Lille is anything but halted. The city is alive in artistry, a rebirth partially brought on by the Lille3000 event, which is not simply a festival or art exhibition, but a city-wide celebration of art where the pieces aren’t confined to galleries, but can instead be found running the streets. Lille3000 can be described as fun, unique, and extravagant.
The same can be said for Annette Messager, a remarkable French artist known for her installation work. Absurd and whimsical, Messager’s work welcomes us into a fictional world, the artist herself acting as a messenger of uncompromisingly bold images and fantastic sights. Comme Si (As If) is Messager’s contribution to the Sixth Lille3000’s theme: utopia. The exhibition consists of the artist’s new and old work; Faire des cartes de France (Making Maps of France) from 2000 is on display with seventy-six new drawings from Messager. Along with this, her novel series Tête-à-tête (Face-to-face), and installations Dessus-Dessous (Above-Below) and La revanche des animaux (Revenge of the animal) are being displayed. In Dessus-Dessous Messager showcases her versatility as an artist. Unwilling to be confined to just one means of crafting, Messager employs photographs, drawings, toys, wool, and embroidery – to name just a few – in producing her finished project. Talking to Financial Times, Messager reflects on being told by an artist friend that in order to be successful, she needed to stick to one form of art: “I always wanted to mix together photographs, drawings, embroidery, collage, because I think we don’t have one identity but a lot of identities. So I said: ‘Non, I will do exactly the opposite!’” This fluidity of identity and approach is evident in all her work, as well as her sense of humor: 13 soutiens gorge (2015) is a menacing spider constructed of bras, acting perhaps as commentary on the fashion industry, but also undoubtedly comical.
Annette Messager, Daily, 2015-2016. 21 elements in black skai and tissues, 9 rats in black wrap and black paint, nets; variable dimensions. Courtesy Marian Goodman Gallery, Paris, London, New York Photo
Considering Messager’s oeuvre, the theme of utopia is an interesting choice, but a fitting theme that holds the imaginative essence of her work. Lille3000 has set out to explore the relationship between mankind and nature, and through Messager, we encounter a strange world, both unlike and identical to our own. As the artist says, “For me, the fantastic is in daily life; real life is more extraordinary than all of the imagination.”
To discover more about Annette Messager’s exhibition visit here.
