lito s. freeman / benoÎt maire 9 june - 10 july 2016onestar press, paris in 2015; “letre,” la...

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LITO S. FREEMAN / BENOÎT MAIRE

9 JUNE - 10 JULY 2016

Proposition, artifact, chance. These are leitmotifs of the conversation

between Lito S. Freeman and Benoît Maire. Both artists have found object-

based work on view in the upper gallery, while a 17-minute video by Maire

plays on a loop downstairs.

Benoît Maire's sculptures are philosophical conjectures, assemblages of wood,

stone, and various found materials. His work is more ephemeral in nature than

the history of sculpture is accustomed to, and yet the works are rooted in

iconography and stasis, two of the medium’s core values. Resting on

pedestals, with one placed on the parapet of the staircase, the four

sculptures emanate quiet repose. From Dadaist poetics of language and the

surreal, fragmented juxtapositions of Joseph Cornell’s shadow boxes, to the

playfulness of Fischli and Weiss Equilibres they are radicands being

calculated under our gaze: a hand that is separated from the shell it

desires, a pot precariously resting upon a tree limb with words scrawled on

its surface, an old, stained Bordeaux crate in which a slice of an antique

head rests, a slab of petrified wood with a halo of spray paint and a domino.

They are games we will never know, subjects that resist fixed interpretation.

Lito S. Freeman’s paintings are made from the humblest of means, the

essentials of painting, in the form of a flotsam of scrap wood and pigment or

varnish with the ghostly line of his pencil signatures on verso. Little is

known about the Argentinian-born Freeman, whose life was cut short at the age

of 27. Vincent Honoré curated his work into a group show at the Fondation

Hippocrène in 2014, and subsequently there has been a sustained interest in

his practice in Europe. His work is reminiscent of the diminutive wall

sculpture of the late Bill Walton, the painted shards of Brice Marden’s

marble work, and even the skinny ‘zips’ of Barnett Newman. Yet they are anti-

heroic, more akin to a folk tradition than to the modernist cannon.

On continuous loop in the lower gallery is Letre, 2015, a film conversation

between philosophers François Laruelle and Anne-Françoise Schmid. The title

of the video elides the words lettre, or letter, and l’être, or being. Their

dialogue investigates the philosophical nature of objects, and directly

engages the presentation upstairs. Laruelle, who is among the most eminent

living philosophers, is renowned for his writings on art and ‘non-philosophy’

and has authored over twenty books in his career. Their conversation takes

place in a darkened room at a table topped with a slab of marble. It is an

unscripted dialogue that ponders the nature of the objects set out before

them, all of which are objects and artworks from Maire’s Paris atelier.

LITO S. FREEMAN was born in 1987 in Buenos Aires, where he completed a double

degree in mathematics and literature before starting a series of minimal

paintings following the tradition of Robert Ryman. “Le musée d'une nuit

(script for leaving traces)” at the Fondation Hippocrène was his first public

exhibition. Freeman paints on pieces of elm, which he either cut from a tree,

or found. Though the circumstances are unknown, he died in 2014.

Born in 1978 in Pessac, BENOÎT MAIRE, is a graduate of the Villa Arson, Nice

and of the Sorbonne, Paris 1. Recents solo exhibitions include “George Slays

the Dragon” Bielefelder Kunstverein, Bielefeld in 2016; “Nuages Indexés,”

Onestar Press, Paris in 2015; “Letre,” La verrière Hermès, Brussels in 2014;

“Spiaggia di Menzogne,” Fondazione Giuliani, Rome; “Weapon,” David Roberts

Art Foundation, London in 2013. He has had film screenings at Tate Modern,

London; Palais de Tokyo, and the Centre Pompidou, Paris. Recents publications

include The Object of Criticism, Roma Publications; Benoît Maire, Drawing

Room Confessions, which was published by Mousse.

ROOM EAST [email protected]

41 Orchard Street + 1 212 226 7108

New York, NY 10002 roomeast.com

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Upstairs:

(1) BENOÎT MAIRE Face 2016 wood and plaster BM1601

(2) LITO S. FREEMAN Painting #5 Series A 2014 oil paint on wood LSF1402 (3) LITO S. FREEMAN Painting #6 Series A 2014 oil paint on wood LSF1403

(4) LITO S. FREEMAN Painting #4 Series A 2014 oil paint on wood LSF1403

(5) BENOÎT MAIRE One or Nothing 2015 fossilized wood and domino BM1504

(6) LITO S. FREEMAN Painting #1 Series B 2014 wood LSF1401

(7) BENOÎT MAIRE Waste 2016 wood, pan, jasper BM1602

(8) BENOÎT MAIRE Grab or die 2015 wood, resin glass, jasper BM1503

Downstairs:

(9) BENOÎT MAIRE Angle 2014 onyx BM1401

(10) BENOÎT MAIRE Letre 2015 single channel video 17 minutes dimensions variable BM1505

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BM1601

BENOÎT MAIREFace 2016wood and plaster19.75 x 13 x 6.5 inches

ROOM EAST [email protected] 41 Orchard Street + 1 212 226 7108New York, NY 10002 roomeast.com

LSF1402

LITO S. FREEMANPainting #5 Series A 2014oil paint on wood11.5 x 3.5 x .5 inches


LSF1403

LITO S. FREEMANPainting #6 Series A 2014oil paint on wood15 x 8.25 x 1 inches


LSF1404

LITO S. FREEMANPainting #4 Series A 2014oil paint on wood9.75 x 7.75 x 1.5 inches


BM1504

BENOÎT MAIREOne or Nothing 2015fossilized wood and domino12 x 8 x 0.75 inches


LSF1401

LITO S. FREEMANPainting #1 Series B 2014wood

3.75 x 37 x 1 inches


BM1602

BENOÎT MAIREWaste 2016wood, pan, jasper14.5 x 9 x 5 inches


BM1503

BENOÎT MAIREGrab or Die 2015wood, resin glass, jasper12 x 8 x 4 inches


BM1401

BENOÎT MAIREAngle 2014onyx15 x 12 x 1 inches


BM1505

BENOÎT MAIRELetre 2015single channel video17 minutes

dimensions variable


lito s. freeman / benoÎt maire 9 june - 10 july 2016onestar press, paris in 2015; “letre,” la...

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