Artphilein Collection on display: Plages
In April 2016, Choisi presents and displays the N. 110/111 (2005-2006) of the artist’s magazine “Plages“, dedicated to “Robes d’artistes”, from the Artphilein Foundation collection.
Each of the 600 copies of this magazine is unique and includes 25 ‘dresses’, all original artworks of the artists involved.
The artist Roberto Gutierrez (1939-2011) founded “Plages” in 1978 and directed it for 33 years, until the last N. 130 of May 2011; this artist’s magazine involved hundreds of artists over time.
“Plages is quite an overflowing magazine: to be aware of this one has to look at a complete collection, to perceive how it withstands archive boxes attempting to contain it.”
To diffuse “Plages“, in 1978 Roberto Gutierrez showed up with a suitcase in the halls of the Parisian art fair FIAC, without prior notice and authorization: Jean-Pierre Jouet, founder and director of FIAC liked the project, to the point that he attributed a free stand; also other international fairs (ArtBasel, Artefiera and others) for decades granted this particular artist’s magazine a booth, without asking anything, except the announcement of their fair in the editorial booklets of Gutierrez to “Plages”.
“Plages” was realized in a high number of copies (from 500 to over 1000), a real challenge to the inventiveness and the manual skills of the artists involved, who had to realize for each number different and special works. The artists were not paid; the price of single numbers or subscription was kept intentionally low, in order to allow anyone to buy this kind of artwork.
As Roberto Gutierrez writes in his editorial:
“Here we are in the heart of an art project overruling the cleavages of disciplines and trends, so achieving the art of today, an emancipated art, detached from ideologies of power and economic contingencies, only possible if the artists feel in control of their creation.”