PARIS.- Lefebvre & Fils is presenting Fountain, the first exhibition of work by the artist Jasmine Litttle from 14 December 2017 to 20 January 2018.
Jasmine Little, a young US artist currently living in the wide-open, colour-saturated spaces of Colorado, didn’t come to ceramics, as with many artists, by first intention. Her favorite means of artistic expression were first painting; with oils, with ink and with watercolor.
However, after experimenting with ceramic sculpture in Los Angeles, she decided to refine her technique with a six-week residency with Louis Lefebvre. The Chateau de Versailles was an absolute revelation for her – she instantly fell in love with the palace grounds and fountains and was held spellbound by its secret groves and labyrinths of greenery that seemed to hold a mirror up to her innermost thoughts and feelings.
In the fountains and palace grounds of Versailles, Jasmine Little came face-to-face with Woman as mythological figure: naiad - goddess – siren, as well as Water, a symbol of fertility and a whole universe of water-borne beasts and fabulous animals – offering her a subject matter and inspiration she ever dreamed.
Her pictorial style, rich in symbolism, elegiac, shot through with flashes of Fauvism and more subdued water-coloured tones, lifts the veil on a symbiotic relationship with the Nature and a sacralized feminism. Here too we see a kind of animism where Human, Vegetable, Mineral, Water - the preponderant element - merge and sway, floating time to time in a world of languid moisture, sometimes in a desert furnace, or an unexplored primary forest.
Presentation of the Residency Project Interview with Louis Lefebvre
‘‘The residency grew from a desire precious to my family; that is to know and promote a know-how passed down many generations, enabling the creation of complex and unique art works.’’
In 2015, you opened the “The Residency” in Versailles for artists specialized in ceramics. What is involved in this initiative?
En 2006, I had the chance to acquire a house in Versailles classified for its historical heritage, once the music room of the princess Elisabeth, sister of Louis XVI.
“The Residency” grew from a desire precious to my family; that is to know and promote a know-how passed down many generations, enabling the creation of complex and unique art works.”
The expenses of the artists invited to participate in “The Residency” are completely provided by Galerie Lefebvre & Fils, from the journey to and from Versailles, to full-board accommodation, through to the materials needed for creation.
The residency is also kitted out with two kilns to make production as easy as possible.
The duration of the residencies vary between 6 weeks and 3 months. Part of the package is that your gallery is the stage for a solo show at the end of the residency. Are all the pieces are exhibited being shown exclusive?
On average, the residency lasts two months for each invited artist. Each exhibited work is unique and unseen. There are no multiple editions.
Each residency is an opportunity to share, experiment and live a human adventure.
The resulting solo show is the fruit of work that comes from a strong link between the artist and the gallery.
Not all the artists in “The Residency” are artists of the gallery. How do you chose which artists benefit from the residency?
It would be impossible to establish an admissions process to participate in “The Residency”.
I am particularly susceptible to the production of a number of artists from the West Coast of America. I find their outlook, when it comes to techniques and the work produced, of a very high level.
There is a really unique style that comes from Los Angeles.
I trust my eye and my aesthetic sensitivity. I owe many artistic encounters to Roger Herman, a professor friend at UCLA and ceramist artist, and to Danny First, an Israeli philanthropist friend.
“The Residency” has existed for two years, could you tell us your first impressions of how it’s gone so far, and your goals for the future?
I had given myself two years to make the project viable. I’ve achieved this, as well as doubling the turnover for the gallery.
The solo shows have been a great success, enabling me to confirm my role as a gallery owner by placing the artists’ pieces. I also advise and accompany them in introductions to great collectors and museums. Such as Anabel Juarez, a Mexican artist, or Eric Croes, a Belgian artist, who have works in the collections of the Museum of Sèvres.
In addition, the gallery offers the residency artists a high quality of visibility through the participation in innovative international fairs, for example in AAAH Paris Internationale.
This project, dedicated to the fired arts, which started with the artist Ulrika Strömbäck continues today with many more artists. “The Residency” has a booked-up program until 2020, which demonstrates that the gallery has opened a new chapter and that the story continues.
