OLIVIER MOSSET, Untitled, 1991
4 on a row, each 61 x 61 cm
Unique work - not a unique work.
In the world of art, the contemplative (thinking and seeing) is sometimes quickly overwhelmed by looking. This is certainly the case in the work of Olivier Mosset, who is famous for his enormous canvases. For a solo exhibition in 2008, he brought four paintings to the gallery that were very small considering what he usually makes. In the end, he didn't hang these small canvases in the exhibition. It detracted from the grandiose approach of the few giant canvases he exhibited.
The four small works are stretched with raw cotton fabric. It can hardly be much less than that, you might think. I asked Olivier whether these are four separate works. "I don't know...". "But" I said, "on the back is your signature four times and the year. Or maybe it's an edition; how am I supposed to sell it?" "You decide, you sell it any way you like."
The canvases are identical, signed, dated, it is not an edition, the canvases are not numbered..... If I were to sell the canvases separately, there would be four of the same works that have been put on the market. The discussion about what this work or works represent would degenerate into 'the artist has made exactly the same thing four times', without him making this clear. The ambiguity of these canvases in a row would thereby be nullified, and perhaps also its mysteriousness. That would be a pity in a contemplative sense.
After all these years, the work or works are still for sale although now and then there is interest in buying a single piece.
The four paintings 'Untitled' by Olivier Mosset can be seen. To the right of this, two perfume canvases by Wjm Kok, a sanding machine canvas by Klaas Kloosterboer and a Furniture Sculpture by John M Armleder.