The Contemporary Arts of Mathieu Lefevre
Honestly, I don’t find it too awkward to write about Mathieu Lefevre’s art without having ever really seen it in person. I guess this is because Lefevre constantly- and humorously-raises eyebrows and “points fingers” at institutionalized ways of experiencing and valuing art; and so I feel like it’s ok to be similarly cheeky and somewhat self-aware myself. Plus, I’ve heard and read about him before, and his website is complete enough for one to get a good sense of his practice and sense of humour.
Mathieu Lefevre does hilarious installations, sculptures, performances, interventions, paintings, drawings and art with text, yet I’m pretty sure he’d chuckle at the thought of being considered an “interdisciplinary artist.” He doesn’t ”critique” or “comment on” the ”art world” per se (oh god the quotation marks, they’re everywhere), or so I’d like to think. And yes, it’s my prerogative to see his naive-looking aesthetic as something that is as funnily straightforward as it is potentially layered and witty.
What resonates the most with me in his practice is his amusing struggle to deal with institutionalized/commodified art and wanky labels such as ”contemporary art.” Lefevre is ambiguously very NOW while still ridiculing the very conception of “NOW art”, and luckily he does it in a non-lame way. Win-win situation for everyone, much?
I’m especially fond of his more illustration-based works, which often are a mind-boggling mixture of cute, zany and hardcore. Also, note that Lefevre is participating to Centre Clark’s auction this Saturday the 13th at 2pm. He will be auctioning La Broue ette, a wheelbarrowful of beer, 110 x 135 x 80 cm. Bidding starts at $420 (srsly).
