“Believing that the rare events and rare works which have survived from the past are the best and most important part of those centuries of thought is a naive idea. Their conservation is simply due to the fact that a small body of art theorists had choices and elevated them by eliminating all others.” (Jean Dubuffet, Asphyxiating Culture)

The eight collages included in this project have been made by Monsieur G., an unknown French artist whose true identity Urso himself does not know (the collages, signed on the backside, date back to 1979).

In 2014 Alex Urso found them in a street market in Warsaw: they were placed on the ground among other priceless objects and second hand junk. Intrigued, he decided to save them. After having bought the whole series, Urso spent time cleaning every piece, rearranging it, mending the ruined parts and – finally – giving them a new life.

All the project, therefore, is a sort of archeological operation, a process of bringing back to life something extinct and forgotten. By rescuing these art pieces from the oblivion, Urso translated his action of “creation” – proper as an artist – as an action of “rehabilitation”.

The final intention is to make a tribute to the mysterious Monsieur G. and, on a broader level, pay homage to all artists that art history did not consider worthy of attention and memory.

NOTES

Every collages is installed on a double sided frame, in order to see the original signature and date of Monsieur G.