The Dream of Being an Artist is the name of an art exhibition at the “Palais des Beaux-Art” in the city of Lille (France) from September 20th 2019 to January 6th 2020 featuring artists from D’Albrecht Dürer to Marina Abramović, but also Jacques Louis David, Edouard Manet, Frida Khalo or Jeff Koons…
Behind this exhibition there is an art narrative about the myth of being an artist… Many of us, many around us, dream of being an Artist. To me this raises a key question: What does it take to be an artist in 2019? What are the elements that set artists apart? Is it your art skills? Is it our lifestyle? Are they your beliefs or your passions? Is it the number of followers you have on social media or is it your capacity to translate emotions into a media to engage an audience? I’m still questioning myself and in this Revver issue we share some answers…
I deeply believe that what makes an artist is her/his capacity to exist through an artwork. “Existence” is the foundation. If you prefer, “to exist” is in the first place to be aware of our relationship to the self, to the world, to others or to our close environment.
I agree we all have our own views but fundamentally, what will be Art expressions or realization without the concept of “Existence”?
I humbly invite you to take a pause and to navigate into this new issue to re-consider what it means when we say “I exist” or “we exist” or “they exist”.
To start that conversation, we gathered some artists to offer us some directions. First, we start with the fashion photographer Stephane Ferrero who shares with us his inspiration from the great sculptor Alberto Giacometti – a key figure of the art movement Existentialism. The fashion story we feature in this issue is called “Who I am”. This is a call to explore an idea of aesthetics based on the presence. By being present we meant to objectivize a reality.
As many of us will agree (or not), reality is a norm. However, sometimes we turn it into an inspiration to fight adverse situation(s) to prove that we can exist. That’s why we are launching a project called “Monumental Women“. A monument is a statue, a building, or a structure erected to commemorate a notable person or an event. We advocate the recognition of Women as a monument of our inspirations and more. We often overlook the great realizations women made to Arts & Culture, so we want to take a stance not so much to magnify gender diversity to follow the crowd, but more to be present by portraying those around us who are making a difference. Yes “they exist” and they are many of them that we will feature here to make sure they are part of our references.
Then, we also spent time researching and studying the different forms of “existence” when it comes to promote reality: Cathy Brunet is for example a great ambassador of artistic process making with the art of “collage”. To be more relevant in unfolding the key trends in doing business with artists, we have been privileged to sit-down with Philip Handford and Al Hong, who depict the forces behind designing pop-up stores in Asia. They share with us how to re-invent branding and success.
We have a lot for you because you are a lot for us. That’s why this magazine still exists!
月刊號 #19
“當一位藝術家的夢想”
(The Dream of Being an Artist)*當一位藝術家的夢想，是里爾市（法國）從2019年9月20日至2020年1月6日在“里爾美術宮“Palais des Beaux-Art”舉行的藝術展覽的名稱，展出的藝術家包括AlbrechtDürer，MarinaAbramović，Jacques Louis David，Edouard Manet，Frida Kahlo和Jeff Koons …
*註
里爾美術宮 是位於法國城市里爾的一座博物館。這座博物館是法國規模最大的博物館之一，也是法國巴黎以外地區最大的博物館。里爾美術宮是法國最早成立的博物館之一。
這是關於成為藝術家的神話的敘事藝術。我們許多人都夢想著成為藝術家。 對我而言，這提出了一個關鍵問題：
在2019年成為一位藝術家的必備條件是什麼？是什麼使藝術家與眾不同？是你的藝術技巧嗎？還是我們的生活方式嗎？藝術是他們的信仰還是激情？是社交媒體上的追隨者數量，還是你將某種情感轉化為媒體以吸引群眾的能力？
我仍然在質疑自己，在這期的Revver雜誌中我們來分享一些答案…
在某些方面，我堅信藝術家能成為藝術家是因為他/她具有透過作品而”存在”的能力。如果你願意，那麼”存在” 首先就是要了解我們與自我，與世界，與他人或與我們緊密的環境之關係。
我同意我們有自己的看法，從根本上來說，
沒有“存在”概念的藝術表達或體認將是什麼？
我謙虛地邀請你休息一下並瀏覽本期新刊，重新考慮這是什麼意思，當我們說“我存在”或“我們存在”或“他們存在”時的意義。
在開始對話前，我們邀請了一些藝術家為我們提供一些方向。首先，我們從時尚攝影師Stephane Ferrero開始來與我們分享了他的藝術靈感─來自偉大的雕塑家阿爾貝托·賈科梅蒂（Alberto Giacometti）–存在主義藝術運動的關鍵人物。我們在本期中介紹的時尚故事稱為“我是誰Who I am”。這是呼籲根據存在主義來探索美學觀念的呼聲。而這意味著我們要客觀化地來表現現實。
正如同我們許多人也許會同意或是不同意那樣，現實是一種規範，但是有時候我們把它變成靈感去應對不利的局勢證明我們可以存在。因此，我們發起了一個名為“女性紀念碑”的項目。紀念碑是為了紀念著名人物或事件而豎立的雕像，建築物或其他結構。我們倡導承認婦女為紀念碑，並將之成為我們的靈感來源等等。但我們卻經常忽略女性對藝術和文化的偉大認識，所以我們要採取姿態，與其說是為了擴大性別多樣性以追隨人群，不如說是為了描繪我們周圍的人正在有所作為。是的，“他們存在”，而且有其相當多的”他們”，我們在此點出他們的特性以確保他們是我們參考的一部分。
然後，我們也花了點時間考察跟研究不同形式的”存在”： 凱茜·布魯內（Cathy Brunet）是藝術工藝的偉大大使─她用“拼貼畫”來創作藝術。與發展關鍵趨勢更加相關即與藝術家一起做生意，我們很榮幸邀請到菲利普·漢德福德Philip Handford還有Al Hong一起坐下來分享討論─他們描繪了在亞洲設計快閃店(pop-up stores)背後的力量以及與我們分享瞭解如何重塑品牌的成功之路。
我們這期月刊可以帶給你很多新的理念因為你們也曾經帶給了我們很多。這就是這本雜誌存在的原因！
存在：藝術家的夢想
