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Ivan Messac

Le noble art bleu n°4

1973

Acrylic on canvas

100 × 100 cm

Unique

Location: Paris, France

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About the artwork

The Pop aesthetic of this painting, whose starting point is a photograph borrowed from the press, plays on the illusion of reality. The artist has reused an image of a boxing match, showing three men, two boxers and a referee ensuring compliance with the rules. Not without mystery, two elements float through the composition: the Olympic Games logo and two walking sticks. This painting belongs to the 1973 series Le noble art, characterized by the reuse of boxing images. Ivan Messac, known for his committed Pop art, seems here to be denouncing the absurdity of the accepted and normalized violence of sports fights.

Expert opinion

This piece combines modernity and history in its contemporary aesthetic and art history. Dating from 1973, it is part of the iconic period of Ivan Messac and Figuration Narrative. The work is also reproduced in the book Messac - De la peinture avant toute chose, page 95.

About the artist

Ivan Messac is the youngest representative of the Figuration Narrative movement, in which he participated from 1969 to 1980 alongside Gérard Fromanger, Hervé Télémaque, Jacques Mohory and Bernard Rancillac. His practice, which began in a France shaken by May 68 and various social movements, can be described as "political Pop". He boldly combined the large, flat surfaces and pure colors of advertising posters with political issues such as the Vietnam War, the Cold War and the recognition of minorities. Recognized as a major artist of French painting, his works have been shown on a number of occasions in exhibitions tracing the Figuration Narrative movement, including at the Musée des Beaux-arts d'Orléans in 2005, the Musée Hospice Comtesse in Lille in 2007 and the Patinoire Royale in Brussels in 2015. In 2016, the Centre Pompidou created a major event with "Messac Live: 20 jours dans un tableau". For several days, Ivan Messac was asked to create a work in front of the public. In the end, he created not one but five monumental paintings for this memorable event.

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