Gustave Moreau made more than 1800 paintings before he died in 1898. 1200 of those -- along with 12,000 drawings -- still inhabit his home-cum-museum on a lonely 9th Arrondissement street in Paris.
Turning his home into a museum was not difficult. The living quarters are practically austere. Also: dusty. And the large studio rooms on the 3rd and 4th floor of the building are well suited for viewing as much as creating.
I guess that he was a symbolist.
Every wall is littered with ornately framed oft-allegorical paintings that are very good. Like, incredible. However, It is not until I reached the final room on the top floor that I saw it.
It is this boxy cabinet. It is maybe 6' on each side with two doors on each side.
It has a keeper who works it. The keeper has a key that opens each side one at a time. When I stuck my head inside the box, I was not expecting the marvel of 19th century engineering that I found.
Within this box are approximately one hundred paintings all framed and on a unique hinge system (on their vertical axis) that allowed the keeper to flip through the ornately framed paintings much like a magazine. When we reached the end of one signature, the keeper took me around to an adjacent side of the box and we repeated the process.
I do not understand this box. It has so many paintings! It is a secret engineering feat for secret paintings secretly on display behind a keeper at this somewhat secret museum in Paris; that's what we've got here.
Veneer Magazine from October 26, 2007
Ve 02/18 Reception Images & The Internet
Harsh Kapor
This is just a little reminder to all you readers to please make your reception photos available to us. E-mail them, flickr them, WHTVR. It delights us no end to see these things in use. Henceforth, wherever you receive your issue, please document the document.
Thank you.
(below: many Ve 02s with some 01s in Paris, a Ve box in Toronto with a Vice lunch, one Ve 02 with pumpkins in L.A.)
Veneer Magazine from October 21, 2007
Jeremy Deller
Jameson
. . . at Tate's Turner Prize Retrospective.
Veneer Magazine from October 11, 2007
The Third Mind
Jameson
Had I almost given up hope on the Palais De Tokyo?
No.
Would I not expect a show this amazing?
Oui.
The Third Mind, currently up at said museum is wonderful. Tres incroyable
There's more where that came from.
This is the first time that I feel very confident in grifting a group show. Included are some of my favorites: Cady Noland, Bruce Conner, TD, Emma Kunz (!), Andy Warhol, the Karen Kilimnik piece is a good one -- all with some vague connection to William S. Burroughs (who also has some stuff on walls). Bonjour!
Also, I presume that Joe Brainard's people stipulated this, but his room was lit in the most incredible fashion (like seamless backlit fabric, even and dull). I spent vingt minutes looking at the ceiling and listening to the wind. Vent fonce et fonce
A couple of days previous to experiencing this show I visited the Turner Prize Retrospective at the Tate (leaving town minutes before Frieze opened). That show was one of the most emo group things that I've been to. It is potentially this reason that The Third Mind is a breath of fresh air.
Ugo Rondinone, did you do this?
Truly, thank you.
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Update:
We went back there a couple of nights ago and revisited the room.