Kim Hamisky French, 1943-2002
Le complex de Janus, 1981
Pine wood
130 x 50 x 56 cm
Unique
Unique
Signed and dated
Born in 1943 in Son Tây, Vietnam, Kim Hamisky arrived in Paris in the 1960s. He held a number of major solo exhibitions at the Arnaud, Blondel, and Chimène galleries....
Born in 1943 in Son Tây, Vietnam, Kim Hamisky arrived in Paris in the 1960s. He held a number of major solo exhibitions at the Arnaud, Blondel, and Chimène galleries. In 1966, he was awarded the Arnys Prize. Initially trained as a painter, he soon developed a keen interest in sculpture. Hamisky is the son-in-law of Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne, whose studio was next-door to that of Brancusi.
Throughout his artistic career, Hamisky has taken part in collective exhibitions: at the Maeght Foundation in Saint-Paul de Vence in 1967, at the Maison de la Culture d’Arcueil in 1970, at the Musée d'Art Contemporain de Montréal (MACM) in 1972, and at the Musée National d’Art Moderne in Paris in 1984. In 1986, a solo exhibition devoted to his work was held at the museum of Dunkirk.
His works are to be found in the permanent collections of the Centre National d’Art Contemporain in Paris, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, the Hakone Museum in Tokyo, and the Apiaw Museum in Vervier, Belgium. Hamisky exhibited in Monaco on a number of occasions in the 1990s. He died in 2002.
Initially trained as a painter, Hamisky turned to sculpture after becoming the son-in-law of Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne in 1969. Over the years, key to his iconography was the alteration of the practicality of objects as is brilliantly displayed in his famous bronze 'Knot' and 'Le Complex de Janus'. The present sculpture addresses the duality of the positive and negative, of the inside and outside of an everyday piece of furniture, pushing the technical limits of any sculptor, and touching on the surreal. During the 1980s, Hamisky made a series of human heads, often using Japanese theatre or the Art Deco style as a point of departure. Throughout his artistic career, Hamisky has taken part in collective exhibitions: at the Maeght Foundation in Saint-Paul de Vence in 1967, at the Maison de la Culture d’Arcueil in 1970, at the Musée d'Art Contemporain de Montréal (MACM) in 1972, and at the Musée National d’Art Moderne in Paris in 1984. In 1986, a solo exhibition devoted to his work was held at the museum of Dunkirk. Commercial galleries which hosted one-man shows include Arnaud, Blondel, and Chimène, all located in Paris.
Hamisky's work is in the following museums: Centre d'Art National d'Art Contemporain, Paris; Musée d'Art Contemporain, Montréal; Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Musée Hakone, Japan; Musée de Dunkerque, Dunkerque; Musée de Vervier, Vervier, Belgium.
Et si en fait c’était d’abord une reflexion sur le temps,
sur les liens matière-antimatière
et le vide suggéré,
sur le lent processus de la réalisation de l’oeuvre,
de l’artiste à travers elle.
Il serait en effet simplificateur
de situer le travail de Kim Hamisky aux frontières de l’objet detourné de sa vocation,
du trompe l’oeil, de la confusion des apparences.
L’oeuvre a une double lecture. L’une immediate, palpable.
L’autre et c’est sans doute la particularité d’Hamisky,
mentalisée.
Plus precisement une logique differente
faite de ‘paradoxes visuels’.
Hamisky propose des possibles invraisemblables.
Michel Faucher, 1986, catalogue Hamisky, musée contemporain d'art moderne de Dunkerque
Throughout his artistic career, Hamisky has taken part in collective exhibitions: at the Maeght Foundation in Saint-Paul de Vence in 1967, at the Maison de la Culture d’Arcueil in 1970, at the Musée d'Art Contemporain de Montréal (MACM) in 1972, and at the Musée National d’Art Moderne in Paris in 1984. In 1986, a solo exhibition devoted to his work was held at the museum of Dunkirk.
His works are to be found in the permanent collections of the Centre National d’Art Contemporain in Paris, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, the Hakone Museum in Tokyo, and the Apiaw Museum in Vervier, Belgium. Hamisky exhibited in Monaco on a number of occasions in the 1990s. He died in 2002.
Initially trained as a painter, Hamisky turned to sculpture after becoming the son-in-law of Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne in 1969. Over the years, key to his iconography was the alteration of the practicality of objects as is brilliantly displayed in his famous bronze 'Knot' and 'Le Complex de Janus'. The present sculpture addresses the duality of the positive and negative, of the inside and outside of an everyday piece of furniture, pushing the technical limits of any sculptor, and touching on the surreal. During the 1980s, Hamisky made a series of human heads, often using Japanese theatre or the Art Deco style as a point of departure. Throughout his artistic career, Hamisky has taken part in collective exhibitions: at the Maeght Foundation in Saint-Paul de Vence in 1967, at the Maison de la Culture d’Arcueil in 1970, at the Musée d'Art Contemporain de Montréal (MACM) in 1972, and at the Musée National d’Art Moderne in Paris in 1984. In 1986, a solo exhibition devoted to his work was held at the museum of Dunkirk. Commercial galleries which hosted one-man shows include Arnaud, Blondel, and Chimène, all located in Paris.
Hamisky's work is in the following museums: Centre d'Art National d'Art Contemporain, Paris; Musée d'Art Contemporain, Montréal; Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Musée Hakone, Japan; Musée de Dunkerque, Dunkerque; Musée de Vervier, Vervier, Belgium.
Et si en fait c’était d’abord une reflexion sur le temps,
sur les liens matière-antimatière
et le vide suggéré,
sur le lent processus de la réalisation de l’oeuvre,
de l’artiste à travers elle.
Il serait en effet simplificateur
de situer le travail de Kim Hamisky aux frontières de l’objet detourné de sa vocation,
du trompe l’oeil, de la confusion des apparences.
L’oeuvre a une double lecture. L’une immediate, palpable.
L’autre et c’est sans doute la particularité d’Hamisky,
mentalisée.
Plus precisement une logique differente
faite de ‘paradoxes visuels’.
Hamisky propose des possibles invraisemblables.
Michel Faucher, 1986, catalogue Hamisky, musée contemporain d'art moderne de Dunkerque
Provenance
Galerie Alain Blondel, Paris
Private collection, London.
Exhibitions
1984, National Furniture: 20 Years of Creation, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
1986, Hamisky, Musée d'Art Contemporain de Dunkerque.
Literature
1981, Connaissance des Arts, Paris, cat. no. 356, ill. p. 48
Hamisky, exhibition catalogue, Musée d'Art Contemporain de Dunkerque, 1986, ill.
