May 9, 2011

The Upside-Down World of Philippe Ramette


Philippe Ramette is one of the best known and most original French artists on the contemporary art scene today. His arrival in Hong Kong will have all the fan-fare of an anniversary.

When he was invited to Hong Kong by the Alliance Française ten years ago, he created “Le Balcon 2” (The Balcony 2) - an extraordinary performance which was at once unusual, philosophical and highly poetic; an image of which appeared in the world press.

Impeccably dressed in a black suit, he crossed the Hong Kong Bay in a wooden balcony that floated horizontally on the South China Sea, giving us a new outlook on the world and an irrational perception of the sky over one ofthe busiest ports on the planet.

Philippe Ramette scours the world alone - seas, deserts, mountains, seabed – carefully observing it and placing himself in meditative positions which defy gravity and logic. His work is “an invitation to experiment: with weightlessness, with perception, with falling”.

Discreet and seemingly unflappable, he possesses a devastating wit, combining profound thinking on art and the human condition and making him one of the greatest contemporary artists, in the same vein as Duchamp, Dada and Michaux – mixed with a touch of Buster Keaton.Ramette is a meticulous and mischievous thinker who takes language literally and makes us sway from the rational to the irrational.

-Le French May

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