Richard Baquié's figure appears in the middle of a century which reinvents, after Marcel Duchamp's verdict and investigation of a new anthropological continent, the notion of sculptural object. The end of the era of the mechanization, the revaluation of the vernacular practices, the presence of the immense construction site that establish the consequences of the war, the extinction of the industrialization, the repercussions of the consumerism, lead the artists to explore, in particular through the Pop art in the USA, through the New Realism in Europe, a field where the sculpture redefines its ways, releases itself from usual conventions to come to drink in all the visual, formal, allegorical, imaginary resources, stemming from this rubble. Each working specifically to dismember, to count, to select the different components of a Vanity in the measure of a past world.

In this landscape of eclipse and revival, both stimulating and funeral, Richard Baquié will know, with an innate sense of the poetry of things, a tone at once light and melancholic, disillusioned and tender, introduce a narrative dimension, sensitive, sentimental and biographical, which will save him from all banality, will help to completely renew the perception of this universe of vestiges and to miraculously revive it. An intuitive and lucid artist, he would not neglect the various stages that had enabled the sculpture to free itself from the heavy tyranny of its habits and technical processes. In an interdisciplinary, landscaped vision, which prefigures the deconstructive modes of installation, which sometimes recalls, but elegantly casually, the practices of the Arte povera, he enjoys making sound, light, cinema, photography, motion, water, electricity, and the most disparate materials coexist and dialogue? All these structures, all these assemblies, are played with a disarming virtuosity, a constant playful sense, the diversity of their deliberately composites amalgams, displaying a predilection for the fragility of processes resulting from recovery and DIY.

We can consider Richard Baquié's production, as evidenced by his latest production, « Replica without title n°1 of the State given? » *, a sham of a sham, namely Marcel Duchamp's ultimate message, as a cheerful and impertinent comedy to the one she identifies as the originator and as an invitation to overcome its intimidating irony. If the visceral anxiety of the artist, his perpetual dissatisfaction, cannot fail to appear to us as a premonition of a disappearance too soon threatening, far from being truncated or diminished, his work today finds in his intuitions an increased relevance and vitality.

Henry-Claude Cousseau

August 2017

* This work by Richard Baquié is central to the recent exhibition at Palais de Tokyo, dioramas.

1952 - 1996

SOLO SHOW

2017
Richard Baquié - Nuit blanche, matin gris, jour noir, Galerie Thomas Bernard - Cortex Athletico, Paris, France

2004
Richard Baquié, Galerie Georges-Philippe & Nathalie Vallois, Paris, France

1997
Richard Baquié, CAPC - Musée d'art contemporain, Bordeaux, France

1996
Richard Baquié, Galerie Arlogos, Nantes, France
Richard Baquié, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France

1995
Richard Baquié, Galerie française de la place Navone, Rome, Italie

1992
Richard Baquié, Galerie de Paris, Paris, France

1991
Richard Baquié - Constats d'échec, Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, Jouy-en-Josas, Paris, France
Richard Baquié, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada

1990
Richard Baquié - Morphogène, Galerie des Arènes, Nîmes, France
Richard Baquié, Foire de Chicago, Chicago, USA

1989
Richard Baquié, Galerie Eric Fabre, Fiac 89, Paris, France
Richard Baquié, Foire d'art contemporain, Chicago, USA
Richard Baquié, Galerie Arlogos, Nantes

1988
Richard Baquié, Galerie Beaubourg, Vence,  France
Richard Baquié, Inauguration de L'Aventure, Marseille, France

1987
Richard Baquié, Galerie Micheline Szwajcer, Anvers, Belgique
 Richard Baquié, Centre Pompidou - Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris, France
Richard Baquié, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Bruxelles, Belgique
Richard Baquié, Galerie Venster, Rotterdam, Pays-Bas

1985    
Richard Baquié, Galerie Arlogos, Nantes
Richard Baquié, ARCA Centre d'art contemporain, Marseille, France

1984    
Richard Baquié, Galerie Eric Fabre, Paris, France



GROUP SHOW

2019

Masterpieces, Galerie Thomas Bernard - Cortex Athletico

2018
Persona grata, MAC VAL - Musée d'art contemporain du Val-de-Marne, Vitry-sur-Seine, France
Sculpter (faire l'atelier), La Criée, Beaux-Arts, Rennes, France
A cris ouverts, Les Ateliers de Rennes, Rennes, France

2017
Dioramas, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France

2016
Printemps de l'Art Contemporain 2016, Marseille expos, réseau des galeries et lieux d'art contemporain, Marseille, France

2015
Ouverture pour inventaire (2), FRAC des Pays de la Loire, Carquefou, France
EXTRA MUROS: Voor(bij) woorden, MuHKA Museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen, Antwerp, Belgique

2014
Narcisse, l'image dans l'onde, Fondation François Schneider, Wattwiller, France

2013
Kilomètres/heure - Utopies automobiles et ferroviaires (1913-2013), Musée du château des Ducs de Wurtemberg, Montbéliard, France
Des Mondes Possibles, FRAC - Franche-Comté, Besançon, France
La Fabrique des Possibles, FRAC - Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Marseille, France

2012
Les référents, Galerie Edouard-Manet, Genevilliers, France
Les Dérives De L'imaginaire, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
Exposition Luxe(s) /Naji kamouche, Galerie de l'ENSBA, Paris, France
Où donc, et quand ?, Château de Tanlay, Tanlay, France

2011
LE CHÂTEAU, CAPC - Musée d'art contemporain, Bordeaux, France

2010
Nulle part est un endroit, Centre photographique d'Ile-de-France, Pontault Combault, France
CAPC ou la vie saisie par l'art, CAPC - Musée d'art contemporain, Bordeaux, France
Ecce Homo Ludens, Musée Régional D'Art Contemporain Languedoc-Roussillon, Sérignan, France
Seconde main, Musée d´Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris - MAM/ARC, Paris, France

2008
Regardes de tous tes yeux, regardes ! L'art contemporain de Perec, Musée des Beaux Arts de Dôle, Dôle, France
Regardes de tous tes yeux regardes, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes, Nantes, France

2007
Urban Notes, Centro per l´Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato, Italie
Rouge baiser, FRAC - Pays de la Loire, Carquefou, France
Souvenir dalla Collezione del Centro per l'arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Centro per l´Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato, Italie

2006
From Wallonia with love, Galerie Jacques Cerami, Couillet, France
Chauffe Marcel ! A propos de « mona lisa », FRAC - Languedoc-Roussilon, Montpellier, France
Bang! Bang! Trafic d'armes de St Étienne à Sète, Musée d'Art et d'Industrie, Saint-Etienne, France

2005
The Collection XII, MuHKA Museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen, Anvers, Belgique
El estado de las cosas - El objeto en el arte desde 1960 hasta nuestros días, ARTIUM - Basque Museum Center of Contemporary Art, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Espagne
b.a.-ba un choix dans la collection du Frac Bretagne, Domaine de Kerguéhennec, Centre d'Art Contemporain, Bignan, France

2004
The state of the things. The object in art from 1960 to the present day, MARCO Museo de Arte Contemporánea, Vigo, Espagne

2003
New presentation of the collection (VI), MuHKA Museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen, Anvers, Belgique
Objets ? Objets !, CAPC - Musée d'art contemporain, Bordeaux, France
Collectiepresentatie V - herfst 2003, MuHKA Museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen, Anvers, Belgique

2002
Séquences 2, Galerie Roger Pailhas, Marseille, France
Voilá la France, Cesac - Centro Sperimentale per le Arti Contemporanee, Caraglio, Italie
Véhicule, Friche la Belle de Mai, Marseille, France

2001
Collection : simulacres et détournements dans les années 80, CAPC - Musée d'art contemporain, Bordeaux, France
De Artaud ... à Twombly, Centre Pompidou - Musée National d´Art Moderne, Paris, France

2000
Air - air, Grimaldi Forum Monaco, Monaco

1997
Collection, découverte, CAPC - Musée d'art contemporain, Bordeaux, France

1996
Condamnés à la Liberté, Espace de l'art concret, Mouans Sartoux, France
Le voyage extraordinaire, Musée d'Art Contemporain, Lyon

1995
Féminin-masculin : Le sexe de l'art, Centre Pompidou - Musée National d?Art Moderne, Paris, France
«Même si c'est la nuit», CAPC - Musée d'art contemporain, Bordeaux, France
Réalité décalée : oeuvres de la collection du Frac Bretagne, Galerie du TNB, Rennes, France

1994
Même si c'est la nuit, CAPC - Musée d'art contemporain, Bordeaux, France
Sculptures contemporaines, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Clermont-Ferrand, France

1993
Well done, maldone : Richard Baquié, Toni Grand, Fabrice Hybert, Richard Monnier, Galerie Arlogos, Nantes, France
Collections pour une région - «lieux de fictions», capc Musée d?art contemporain, Bordeaux, France
Galerie Arologos, Nantes, France
Galerie Arlogos, Fiac, Paris, France
L'Ivresse du réél - l'objet dans l'art du XXe siècle, Carré d'art, Musée d?art contemporain, Nîmes, France

1992
France, troisième génération, Pavillon des Arts, Exposition universelle, Séville, Italy
Collection du Fonds Régional d?Art Contemporain des Pays de la Loire,
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nantes, France
Autour de la sculpture, Espace Exposition, 2000, Arcachon, France

1991
La Sculpture Contemporaine après 1970, Fondation Daniel Templon, Fre?jus, France
Lato Sensu - 17 artistes français, Charlottenborg, Copenhague, Danemark
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Mulhouse, France
E-Werk, Hallen für Kunst, Institut français, Fribourg, Allemagne
Via Marseille, XVIIe Biennale d'Alexandrie, Egypte
Valses nobles et sentimentales, Galerie de l'Ancienne Douane, Strasbourg, France
Individualités - 14 Contemporary Artists from France, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada
L'Amour de l'Art : une exposition de l'art contemporain en France, Biennale d?Art contemporain, Lyon, France
Transat, Fondation San Telmo, Buenos Aires ; Fonds Régional d'Art Contemporain Provence-Alpes-Côte-d?Azur, Marseille, France
Baquié, Ball, Convert, Hill, Morellet, Poirier, Sandback, Domaine Kerguéhennec, Centre d'Art Contemporain, Bignan, France
1968-1986 - Sculpture, Centre Culturel, Tonneins, France

1990
La Collezione 88-90, Centro per l´Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato, Italie
Qu'est ce qui est contemporain ? : Simultanéité et opposition, Centre Culturel, Dax, France
La guerre de Troie n'aura pas lieu, Chateau d'Oiron, Thouars, Paris, France
New art from the Mediterranean and Japan, Musée de Toyama, Japon
Lignes de mire, Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, Jouy-en-Josas, France
Baquié, Faure, Hybert, Galerie Arlogos, Nantes, France
César-Baquié, Galerie Roger Pailhas, Marseille, France
Francja dzisiaj, Museum Naradowe, Varsovie, Cracovie, Pologne
La Collezione 1988-1990, Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Luigi Pecci, Prato, Italie
Acquisitions 89, Fonds National d'Art Contemporain, Paris, France
Usine Ephémère, Paris
Art & Publicité 1890-1990, Centre George Pompidou, Paris, France

1989
Qu'est-ce qui est contemporain ? 1- Simultanéité et oppositions, CAPC - Musée d'art contemporain, Bordeaux, France
Nos Années 80 - Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, Jouy-en-Josas, France
Peinture-Cinéma-Peinture, Centre de la Vieille Charité, Marseille, France
Richard III - Richard Baquié, Richard Deacon, Richard Monnier, Galerie Arlogos, Nantes, France
Solex nostalgie, Fondation Cartier pour l'art contmporain, Jouy-en-Josas, France
Art Frankfurt, Galerie Arlogos, Nantes, France
Frontières - 8 artistes français, Galerie Christine Le Chanjour, Nice, France
«Il n'y a pas d'art français» in Public - une exposition dans une revue, Grenoble, New York, Cologne, Prato, Londres, Angleterre

1988
Images et Mages - Les Moulins Albigeois, Albi, France
Europa Oggi, Centro per l´Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato, Italie
Les déchargeurs, Fonds Régional d'Art Contemporain, Provence Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Marseille, France
Fictions installées - Ein aspeckt der zeitgenössischen skulptur in Frankreich, Heidelberger Kunstverein, Institut français, Heidelberg, Allemagne
L'Art moderne à Marseille - la collection du musée Cantini, Centre de la Vieille Charité, Marseille, France
Les artistes français au Japon, Hillside Terrace, Tokyo, Japon
Musée d'art moderne Seibu, Takanawa, Japon
Collection du Van Abbemuseum d?Eindhoven, Musée d?art contemporain, Nîmes, France
Hommage à la France, Henie-Onstad Kunstsenter, Hovikodden, Norvège
Galerie Beaubourg, Paris, France
Art et langage - années 80 - oeuvres choisies, Rennes, France
Richard Baquié, Pascal Convert, Juan Munoz, Susana Solano, Musée Bonnat, Bayonne, France
La collection et une selection de donations et de prêts, Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Anvers, Belgique
Vivents les frac, Le Nouveau Musée, Villeurbanne, France
Musée Bonnat, Bayonne, France

1987
1. International Biennial, Istanbul, Turquie
Documenta 8, Kassel, Allemagne
Affected machines / Machines affectées, Affected Machines / Machines Affectées , The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, Chicago, USA
Musée de l'abbaye Sainte-Croix (MASC), Les Sables d'Olonne, France
Bronx, Museum of the Arts, New York, USA ; Galerie Roger Pailhas, Marseille, France
Les années 80 en France : une nouvelle génération d'artistes, Istambul Pavillon, Besiktas, Istanbul, Ankara. Turquie
Match Nice/Marseille, Musée des Beaux Arts, Toulon ; Musée des Beaux-Arts, Grenoble, France

1986
Angles Of Vision: French Art Today : 1986 Exxon International Exhibition, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City, USA
Art français - positions, Technische Universität, Berlin, Allemagne
Kadidavrex, Centre Régional d'Art Contemporain Midi pyrénées, Labège, France
Villa Arson, Nice, France
Dimensions singulières, Château de Rohan, Saverne, France
Ateliers internationaux des Pays de la Loire - deux ans d?acquitisions, Fondation Nationale des Art-Graphiques et Plastiques, Paris, France
Kunst Raï 86, Amsterdam, Pays-Bas
Festival des Arts Electroniques, Maison de la Culture, Rennes, France
Identités Marseille, Centre de la Vieille Charité, Marseille, France
FIAC, Galerie de Paris ; Grand Palais, Paris, France
Affected Machines / Machines affectées, Nexus Contemporary Art Center, Atlanta, USA
Mars, Halles sud - deux revues pour l'art contemporain, Musée Cantini Marseilles ; Halle de L'île, Genève, Suisse

1985
Sculptures, First Approach For A Park Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, Paris, France
Perfo 3, Lantarem, Rotterdam, Pays-Bas
Fonds Régional d'Art Contemporain Provence-Alpes-Côtes d'Azur, Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France
Eric Fabre at Gracie Mansion, Gracie Mansion Gallery, New York, USA
Sagas-Versant sud - parcours dans l'art d'aujourd'hui de Bordeaux à Nice, Palau Meca, Barcelone, Espagne
Sculptures et meubles contemporains, Hôtel de Matignon, Paris, France
Cartes et Châteaux, Fort Saint Alban, Nice, France
G. Autard, R. Baquié, R. Monnier, G .Thupinier, Galerie Arlogos, Nantes, France
Sculptures, Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, Jouy-en-Josas, France
France-Tours - art actuel - deuxième biennale nationale d'art contemporain, Centre Création Contemporaine, Tours, France
Sculptures récentes, ARCA - Centre d'art contemporain, Marseille, France
Itinéraire du versant sud, Centre Régional d'Art contemporain, Marseille, France
Acquisitions - 82-85 du FRAC Provence-Alpes-Côtes d?Azur, Musée Cantini, Marseille, France

1984
Siméon et les flamands roses (première partie), Les Moulins Albigeois, Albi, France
Installations, Axe Art Actuel, Toulouse, France
Nouveaux objets illustratifs ou le crève-coeur en 1984, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Chartres, France
Espacio 10, Fundacio Juan Miro, Barcelone, Espagne
Ateliers internationaux, Fonds Régional d'Art Contemporain des Pays de la Loire, Abbaye Royale, Fontevraud, France
«Présentez Art», Fonds Régional d'Art Contemporain Provence Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Nice ; Musée Cantini, Marseille, France

1983
Opération Rhinocérus : 5°17 longitude Est, 43° 16 latitude Nord, Le Frioul, Marseille, France
L'après-midi, Fondation Nationale des Arts Graphiques et Plastiques, Paris
Symposium de sculptures, Musée Sainte Croix, Poitiers, France
 Octopus, ARCA, Centre d'art contemporain, Marseill, France
Fonds Régional d'Art Contemporain, 1982-1983, Musée Cantini, Marseille, France

1982
Sculptures, Images Actes liés, Marseille.
Salon de mai, Espace Pierre Cardin, Paris.
Jeunes créateurs, Centre culturel, Aubagne, France
Volume, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nîmes, France
Lieux d'artistes, Images Actes Liés, Marseille, France
Action création 82, Parc Chanot, Marseille, France

1980
Présence contemporaine, Ecole d'Art, Aix en Provence, France

PROJECT IN PUBLIC SPACES

    1993
Projet de 1% lycée, Alsace, France

    1987/1988    
L'Aventure, Quartier Les Cèdres, Marseille, vidéo réalisée par Alain Dufaut, Marseille, France



BIBLIOGRAPHY

2017
Dioramas, catalogue d'exposition, Palais de Tokyo, Flammarion
Richard Baquié, Déplacements, catalogue d'exposition, Hôtel des Arts Toulon, Lienart édition

2001
Art Contemporain : un choix de 200 oeuvres du Fonds national d'art contemporain, (1985-1999), édition du Chêne, Paris

1997
Richard Baquié : 1952-1996 rétrospective
édition Direction des Musées de Marseille & Bordeaux : Capc Musée d'art contemporain

1996
Richard Baquié, catalogue d'exposition, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris

1991
Constat d'échec, catalogue d'exposition, Fondation Cartier, Jouy-en-Josas

1990
Morphogène : Richard Baquié, catalogue d'exposition, Musée d'art contemporain, Nîmes

1988
Richard Baquié, catalogue d'exposition, La Galerie de la mer, Marseille

1987
Richard Baquié, catalogue d'exposition, Galerie Micheline Szwajcer, Anvers

1985
Richard Baquié, catalogue d'exposition, ARCA, Centre d'art contemporain, Marseille

1982
Jeunes Créateurs, Maison de la Culture, Aubagne
Lieux d'artistes / Marseille : Atelier de Lorette, Cinabre, Images Actes Liés, Biennale de Paris
Actions créations 82, Parc Chanot, Marseille

Richard Baquié, Dominique Seux

Richard Baquié is associated with the artistic movement, which is often referred to as "garbage art". Initiated by Picasso and Braque with the introduction of collage, radicalized by Schwitters and then developed by Rauschenberg, this art asserted itself in France in the sixties with the New Realists such as Tinguely, Arman and Spoerri. Today Tony Cragg and Bill Woodrow in Great Britain, Richard Baquié in France are the artists, representative of this original movement based on waste recovery.

After having sketched the subject and designed his project to put it in shape, Baquié set out to search, like a "rag-maker", for materials he found in landfills, old objects destined for scrap or scrap. He cuts them, assembles them and from completely heterogeneous elements creates homogeneous parts. To remove all emphasis, it willingly gives a precarious aspect or a deliberately banal configuration to its installations. It reuses forgotten techniques, outdated by progress, uses outdated machines, uses chromo or kistch images. This attitude is indicative of a certain nostalgia for objects of the past, of its rejection of sophistication.

But the essential and original approach of Baquié is to want to create «a sculpture that acts». Whether its installations are «machine sculptures» or «static sculptures», the staging of the subject is paramount. The object is put in a situation to tell a story and become the support of the spectator's imagination. Through the choice of the subject, the natural or mechanical elements that intervene in his sculptures, the language integrated into his installations, the artist seeks to recreate a symbolic world. Baquié calls it "displacement".

Many of his installations put in position some distinctive vehicle attributes or their totality: a train door, He used to take the train to disguise his worry in weariness (1984) ; a simplified representation of an aircraft, Wind situation (1983); pieces of carling of Caravelle, Dérive or its model South (1986); a deliberately chromo view of Amsterdam airport, Schipol (1987); cut-out cars, Amore mio (1985); Low voltage, High voltage (1987). Baquié explains: "The vehicle has one objective, that of compiling distances, it orients itself according to its destination". In this way, he moves the imaginary of the spectator, playing on the notions of time and space.

This interactive game between time and space is often also suggested by the dynamic use of elements outside the object: water, air, noise, sound. Water, through electrical processes, refrigerates, evoking speed and cold in Plymouth West (1985), transforms into steam to simulate aircraft passage in clouds, South (1986), circulates in a continuous circuit to express «the permanent nourishment» of love in Forgotten Passion (1984). The air, the wind, produced by fans evoke the physical displacement, In the past he took the train to disguise his worrying weariness (1984), or space Schipol (1986). The sounds, the noises also participate in the animation of his sculpture: they allow to mime a physical movement, The Crossing of the Present (1986), or when they secrete songs through the intermediary of old transistors or electrophones, they bring back our memories: Plymouth Sud (1985).

Language is also an essential element of the mental displacement that Baquié wants to provoke in the spectator. In his first works the titles were very long, to add meaning to the subject or to clarify the narrative. In fact nothing happened, long after the war, he still feared an ambush (1985). Later he plays on the semantic displacement between the word contained in the title and that of the play. Thus in 1987, he exhibited a work formed by the words FIN DE SIECLE to which he gave the title of Beginning. During an exhibition at the Centre Georges Pompidou in 1987, where the first exhibit was entitled Dérive, la dernière Sud, Baquié declared : "It is up to everyone to create their history in this drift towards the south". Finally the word allows Baquié to express also his personal feelings and the lyricism inherent in all his work: Solitude, Forgotten Passion, The impotence to solve? But it is above all a pretext for asking the question of the visual power of language in art. The phrase is: "Is the word a receiver or a transmitter?" , "Does the image make the word or does the word make the image?"

But a sculpture that works is also for Baquié a sculpture that structures the space so that it «no longer makes center». The most striking example of this intention is that of Amore Mio (1985): this installation, made up of four different pieces placed at the four cardinal points of the exhibition hall, directly appeals to the spectator who, instead of moving around the work, wanders in the middle of its various components. However, if he fragmentes space, he reconstitutes the unity by giving his four pieces a single Plymouth title if he distinguishes them by the directions West, South, East, North, he designs them to be part of the same project. This work at the same time analytical and synthetic is one of the constants of his works.

However, since 1988, while preserving the ambiguity between impression and reality, between word and image, between space and time, Richard Baquié seems to be moving towards a more simplified construction of space, Rather bi-dimensional and tends to favour the frontal aspect in his sculpture: Instant of doubt (1988); Nowhere is a place (1989).