Škoda One places time at the heart of his concerns. Neither instant nor duration, for him time is long and is inscribed, as in photography, in a paradox, where the apparent instantaneity of the action nonetheless gives us a glimpse of a piece of existence.
"Micro Damages" is the first solo exhibition, at the Speerstra Gallery Paris, of artist Fantin Vial aka Škoda One.
Škoda One describes himself as an obsessive and compulsive artist. He is close to conceptual art, art brut and post-graffiti. Born in France in 1980, he grew up in Seine-Saint-Denis. After a break in Vietnam and Mali, he has been living in the South of France since 2010.
The very form of his work which reminds us of punishment in graffiti, the compulsive repetition of his name, from saturation to palimpsest, refers to škoda, which in czech literally means "damages".
Škoda One places time at the heart of his concerns. Neither instant nor duration, for him time is long and is inscribed, as in photography, in a paradox, where the apparent instantaneity of the action nonetheless gives us a glimpse of a piece of existence. A long time is a moment, a reflection, a piece of reality that will take its meaning in a still different temporality, which belongs only to the observer. It is in this sense that the artist titles his works with a series of numbers that refer to the time he takes to realize them.
He says he is willingly inspired by the work of Roman Opalka, the movie theatres of Hiroshi Sugimoto, the determination of graffiti artist Azyle, Alexey Titarenko’s banister of stairs or by the energy and tenacity of the taggers of the 90's that continue to make ink flow today.
© Speerstra Gallery
