The 'mise en scène' carries viewers on a journey that is reminiscent of a Grand Tour through 22 Italian cities (Amalfi, Assisi, Bergamo, Capri, Herculaneum, Florence, Genoa, Milan, Monreale, Naples, Orvieto, Padua, Palermo, Pisa, Pompeii, Portofino, Rome, Siena, Siracuse, Sorrento, Venice, Verona). Paris and Cannes are also included as French artist Pierre-Yves Le Duc was raised in the former and started this cycle of works in the latter.
'MAGIGONIE' is a neologism coined by Le Duc; the series serendipitously spawned from an earlier cycle ('APPARATO', 2013-2016). At the time, he was bent on investigating the evolution of creative actions by recreating the same ink drawing over a three-year span. He designed parameters and methodologies for this project and produced 12.000 drawings and 2.000 scrap sheets. He did not destroy the latter but rather kept them as 'latent' pieces.
Le Duc says about the project's origins, "in 2014, I began to create the first MAGIGONIE collage by combining black and white souvenir postcards from the 1930's, 40's, 50's with ink-stained fragments chosen from the APPARATO scraps; I was looking for poetic, narrative, and graphic correspondences, imagining the world extending beyond the photo's frame. The body of works that emerged, therefore, urges to press past visible reality, not to stop at the magic of art but rather to find the art of artistic magic, a practice that is formed in its doing and emerges through experimentation. This approach seeks to expose the abstract nature which characterizes photographic illusion, to trace the unsteady boundary separating the real from the unreal. The exercise of looking beyond the picture can also lend temporary access to the subconscious, revealing it, and hence highlighting the process and the vision underlying the image. This connection sharpens the natural ability to see beyond the physical contours of a picture."
Alfredo De Dominicis says about the series, "Le Duc juxtaposes order and chaos, the known with the unknown. Two worlds, two visions, chase each other in recursive order. On the one hand, we are shown the known World in a series of postcards reproducing some of its most iconic places; on the other, there is a primordial World or perhaps a future, post-human World. Or, one might one posit that what is mirrored in this quasi-infinite, cyclical sequence - toying with ideas of repetition and reproduction so dear to the artist - is actually the same World, at times masked, at others exposed, raw and naked, 'atomized'. And hence, one might wonder: which version is then the true one?"
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Pierre-Yves Le Duc was born in France in 1964. He studied Italian literature at Sorbonne University, where he graduated in 1988. He then started his training; his inspiration was fuelled by his love of theatre, dance, art galleries, museums and concerts. During his time at university, he travelled across Italy, on numerous occasions. He fell in love with Naples at first sight and relocated there, after earning a scholarship. He completed his first collection of works in 1989. His encounter with Alfredo Bovio Di Giovanni in 1992 was the cornerstone of his training; he learned the rudiments of the craft and of academic practice from him. Since 1993, Le Duc's work has focused mainly on monumental installations inspired by specific places. These are cycles of complex works developed as a strong, cohesive project.
Le Duc's works have been displayed in Italy (Milan, Naples, Pavia, Rome, Salerno, Sorrento, Turin, to name a few) and internationally (in 2012 he had a personal exhibit in Atlanta, USA). He has been represented in important fairs, such as Basilea Art Fair, Miami Art Fair, and Artissima.
Solo Exhibitions
2024 - "Pinga's Universe", Gallerie Riunite, Naples
2021 - "Il Tempio", Maja Arte Contemporanea, Rome
2019 - "Erector Vesevo", Spazio Nea, Naples
2018 - "Andare avanti sino al 'via'!", Spazio Nea, Naples
2017 - "Handle with care", Maja Arte Contemporanea, Rome
2012 - "Sacred Portal", Bill Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia (USA)
2011 - "Erotoritratti", Palazzo Reale, Portici (Naples); "Art Hotel", Hotel Mezzatorre, Ischia
2010 - "Cleanse yourself, please!", PAN, Naples
2009 - "Motion Painting Project", Philomarino Contemporary Art Gallery, Naples
2008 - "Soap opera", presentation of Motion Painting Project, curated by James Putnam, 41 artecontemporanea, Turin
2004 - "Soap opera", Changing Role, Naples; "GU", curated by James Putnam, Meridian Room, Archaeological Museum, Naples
2002 - Studio 34, Salerno
1999 - Institut Français de Naples "Grenoble", Naples
1998 - "Medium", Sala Lazzaretto, Naples
1997 - ISSP (Istituto di Studi Superiori di Progettazione), Naples
1996 - "I quaranta ladroni", in collaboration with Studio Trisorio, Acquedotto greco-romano, Napoli Sotterranea, Naples; "Happening", Naples
1995 - "Le nove muse e i nove poeti", curated by Massimo Sgroi, Piazza del Plebiscito, Naples; "Pierre-Yves Le Duc", curated by Massimo Sgroi, Art Now, Capua; "Le nove muse e i nove poeti", Villa Gallotti, Naples; "Pierre-Yves Le Duc", Grand Hotel Excelsior, Ischia
1994 - "Cenacolo", Piazza San Domenico Maggiore, Naples
1993 - "Pierre-Yves Le Duc", Pick & Paik Club, Naples; "Pierre-Yves Le Duc", exhibition dedicated to artist Alfredo Bovio di Giovanni, Pick & Paik Club, Naples
