UN_TOUCHABLE; the sub-title of this groupshow quotes Rosa Von Praunheim: Ein Virus kennt keine Moral.

artists included:
Youcef Hadjazi (UK)
Anna Jermolaewa (AT)
Ivan Lozano (USA)
Pedro Matias (NL)
Michael Sven Meier (DE)
Andrew McPhail (USA)
Melissa Steckbauer (DE)
Sico Carlier (NL)


Applying a conceptual approach, Rotterdam-based visual artist, publisher, and editor Sico Carlier uses collage, magazines, photography, and artist’s books, to re-contextualize queer-sociologies, -histories, and -aesthetics. In Un_Touchable he presents a series of small spatial collages based on imagery from 50s – 70s physique magazines, their fragmented narratives are spread over several layers of glass, referencing the understated voice of erotic intelligence, stylistic wit, and the fight for emancipation and against censorship. While most of the collages reflect a sense of exuberance, A-TEAM, a pair of somber-toned collages featuring black and gold ornamental cardboard frames, evoke a sense of foreboding. In an ambiguous conflation of morbidity and eroticism, the depicted naked bodies are erased or reclining motionless, as if lying in repose. As a further contribution to the show, B&W copy from vintage erotic magazines is re-aligned, re-edited, and re-interpreted in Carlier’s magazine ‘Well of Possibility’, launched at the occasion of the exhibition.

© 2020 Angelica Lanza for Somos Berlin.

A groupshow on the top-floor of a KCAP designed highrise in Rotterdam.
Other artists included: Mark Bijl, Geerten Ten Bosch, Allard Budding, Monika Dahlberg, Jeroen Jongeleen, Ellen Rouppe, Hidde van Schie, Evelien Visser and Madelon Vriesendorp.

8 Assemblages and a Ni-Noir

film project, 02:12 Min., soundtrack by DMEAVX

A commissioned remix of the soundtrack to filmwork BOYGUIDE (2002) for an outdoor Dance-Event, Voice: Paul Alexander

Sico Carlier’s recent works for this exhibition employ folding found footage, fabricated variegated glimmering forms mounted to an added surface perception, non-figurative and pattern rendered. Towards the East – Carlier’s work seeks to carve out a profound relation with the surface. Towards the West – he attempts to relate to a stylised and controlled treatment of nature by incorporating the stunning "green wall", which visually is an intregal part of the exhibition space. This baroque wall dates back to 1898, when the building that houses the gallery was constructed.

Aiming towards a more distinct and layered understanding of Asian and Chinese Art, Carlier drew inspiration from the work of Victor Segalen (1878-1919). [In his writing Segalen used a vast range of Chinese sources and contexts, exploring themes of friendship, love, desire, gender roles, violence, otherness and selfhood while resolutely shunning away from exoticism, the result being a linguistically and culturally hybrid modernist poetics that is often ironic and at times haunting]. Hereby he consciously takes into account an original endeavour from David Medalla: "Stèles-Hommage à Viktor Segalen", performed at Galerie Alain Gutharc in Paris (1996) which marked the first meeting of Sico Carlier, David Medalla and Adam Nankervis.


_{[Stèles set North]}
Mirrors

Ts’aï-yu regarded himself in the polished silver to straighten his black head-bands and the pearls on them.
If the red seems too pale for his eyes, or the white oil too shiny on his cheeks, the mirror, with a smile, warns him.
The Minister admires his place in history, translucent vase where all things come to be made clear: army campaigns, sayings of Sages, disorders in the stars.
The reflection he gets back directs his conduct.

*

I have neither head-bands nor pearls, no deeds to accomplish. To rhythm my peculiar life, I look at my reflection in my ordinary friend.
His face – better than silver or old sagas – teaches me my today’s truth.

_{from: Stèles by Victor Segalen, translation by Andrew Harvey and Ian Watson.}


communiqué de presse

Dans ses œuvres récentes, Sico Carlier procède à un pliage de pellicules photographiques usées et produit des structures polymorphes, chatoyantes, qui viennent ajouter une surface supplémentaire où le motif remplace la figuration. Côté Est : le travail de Sico Carlier s’efforce d’établir avec la surface une relation en profondeur. Côté Ouest : l’artiste traite la nature de manière stylisée, contrôlée, en incorporant à son travail un étonnant « mur vert » qui, sur le plan visuel, fait partie intégrante de l’espace d’exposition. Ce mur insolite date de 1898, date de construction du bâtiment qui abrite la galerie.

Pour appréhender l’art asiatique et chinois de manière plus fine et plus complète, Sico Carlier a puisé son inspiration dans l’œuvre de Victor Segalen (1878-1919). Dans ses écrits, Segalen parcourt une large gamme de sources et de contextes chinois, explorant des thèmes tels que l’amitié, l’amour, le désir, les rôles assignés aux genres, l’altérité et l’individualité, non sans tourner résolument le dos à toute forme d’exotisme. Il en résulte une poétique moderniste hybride, tant au plan culturel qu’au plan linguistique, souvent ironique et parfois obsédante.) L’artiste convoque ainsi une proposition originale de David Medalla, Stèles : hommage à Victor Segalen, présentée en 1996 à la Galerie Alain Gutharc (Paris), qui a marqué la rencontre entre Sico Carlier, David Medalla et Adam Nankervis.


_{[Stèles face au nord]}
Miroirs

Ts’aï-yu se mire dans l’argent poli afin d’ajuster ses bandeaux noirs et les perles sur ses bandeaux.
Ou si le rouge est trop pâle aux yeux, ou l’huile blanche trop luisante aux joues, le miroir, avec un sourire, l’avertit.
Le Conseiller s’admire dans l’histoire, vaste lucide où tout vient s’éclairer : marches des armées, paroles des Sages, troubles des constellations.
Le reflet qu’il en reçoit ordonne sa conduite.

*

Je n’ai point des bandeaux ni perles, et pas d’exploits à accomplir. Pour régler ma vie singulière, je me contemple seul en mon ami quotidien.
Son visage, – mieux qu’argent ou récits antiques, – m’apprend ma vertu d’aujourd’hui.


https://www.sicocarlier.com/1x17.html

1
David Millhouse
BERNHARD WILLHELM A/W 2012, Paris, 2012
silver gelatin print, signed

provenance: the artist
image size: h:11.5cm X w:7.5cm
framed size: h:26cm X w:21cm


2
Keith Kotick
UNTITLED, circa 1980
silver gelatin print, unsigned

provenance: the estate of the artist
previously published: Currency magazine, issue 1, 2003
image size: h:19cm X w:12.5cm
framed size: h:35cm X w:29cm


3
Daan van Golden
CASTELLDEFELS, 1966
silver gelatin print, signed

provenance: the artist
previously published/exhibited: Currency magazine, issue 4, 2008, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam
(the full suite of 23 images)
image size: h:22cm X w:16cm
framed size: h:40cm X w:33cm


4
David Millhouse
TIM SOAR S/S 2009, Home House, Portman Sq, London, 2008
2 silver gelatin prints, signed

provenance: the artist
image size: h:14cm X w:21cm (2)
framed size: h:33cm X w:26cm


5
Gina Kranendonk
UNTITLED, 1993
silver gelatin print, hand-dated and numbered

provenance: the artist & Salle de Bains, Rotterdam
previously published/exhibited: Hollandtunnel, 420 West Broadway, New York, 1994
image size: h:22.5cm X w:16.5cm
framed size: h:28cm X w:22cm


6
Joseph Caprio
FRANÇOIS-GEORGES, 1996
silver gelatin print, signed and dated

image size: h:9.5cm X w:15cm
framed size: h:31cm X w:41cm


7
ANONYMOUS (USA)
silver gelatin print

image size: h:27cm X w:17cm
framed size: h:71cm X w:25cm


8
Janine Gordon
D. PREPARING FOR PHOTOS, 1995
silver gelatin print, signed numbered and dated

provenance: the artist & Gallery S&H De Buck, Ghent
image size: h:31cm X w:45cm
framed size: h:47cm X w:57cm


9
Ari Versluis
UNTITLED, 1993
silver gelatin print

provenance: the artist
previously exhibited: DIN A0 project, Kunsthal, Rotterdam, 1994
image size: h:12cm X w:12cm
framed size: h:42cm X w:32cm


10
David Millhouse
BEN, 2009
silver gelatin print, signed

provenance: the artist
previously published: Gloom magazine, Progression issue, 2009
image size: h:7.5cm X w:11.5cm
framed size: h:28cm X w:24cm


11
Keith Kotick
UNTITLED, circa 1978
silver gelatin print

provenance: the estate of the artist
previously published: Currency magazine, issue 1, 2003
image size: h:19cm X w:12.5cm
framed size: h:33cm X w:25cm


12
Sico Carlier
ANDRÉ WALKER S/S 2001, Petit Palais, Paris, 2000
captiva polaroid, signed and artist framed

provenance: the artist
previously exhibited: Snippets/Dutch Fashion Photography, Museum Arnhem, 2003
image size: h:7 X w:5.5
framed size: h:25 X w:20


13
Gilbert & George (attributed)
DAVID ROBILLIARD, circa 1980
silver gelatin print, stickered and numbered by Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam

provenance: Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
image size: h:22cm X w:16.5cm
framed size: h:50cm X w:40cm


14
Sico Carlier
ANDRÉ WALKER S/S 2000, Paris, 1999
captiva polaroid, signed and artist framed

provenance: the artist
previously exhibited: Snippets/Dutch Fashion Photography, Museum Arnhem, 2003
image size: h:7cm X w:5.5cm
framed size: h:23cm X w:18cm


15
Keith Kotick
UNTITLED, circa 1978
silver gelatin print

provenance: the estate of the artist
image size: h:13cm X w:9cm
framed size: h:29cm X w:25cm


16
David Robilliard
LOVE LETTER … , 1985
silver gelatin print, stickered and numbered by Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, 1993

provenance: Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
image size: h:22cm X w:16cm
framed size: h:34cm X w:26cm


17
David Medalla & Adam Nankervis (the Mondrian Fanclub)
photo: Koan Baysa
DAVID MEDALLA (AS SAINT MAXIMON) AND ADAM NANKERVIS (AS SANDRA DEE) RAISING THE LETTER ‘O’ MADE OF HIBISCUS FLOWERS, Honolulu, Hawaii, 1995
3M color-proof print

provenance: Hans Ulrich Obrist, Musee d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
previously published: Tijdschrift 3, Salle de Bains, Rotterdam, 1996, Carnival of Perception - Guy Brett, INIVA, London, 2004
image size: h:26cm X w:17cm
framed size: h:42cm X w:33cm


18
Janine Gordon
SHITKICKERS, 1995
silver gelatin print, signed numbered and dated

provenance: the artist & Gallery S&H De Buck, Ghent
previously published: Currency magazine, issue 1, 2003
image size: h:37cm X w:52cm
framed size: h:135cm X w:100cm


19
David Millhouse
WALTER VAN BEIERENDONCK S/S 2014, Opera Garnier, Paris, 2013
silver gelatin print, signed

provenance: the artist
image size: h:11cm X w:6cm
framed size: h:20cm X w:15cm


20
Walter Pfeiffer
UNTITLED, (crate) circa 1975
silver gelatin print

provenance: the artist
previously published: Walter Pfeiffer 1970-1980, Elke Betzel verlag, Frankfurt am Main, 1981, Currency magazine, Issue 1, Rotterdam, 2003, Walter Pfeiffer 1970-1980 re-edition, jrp | ringier, Zurich, 2004
image size: h:7.5cm X w:10.5cm
framed size: h:35cm X w:26cm


21
Walter Pfeiffer
UNTITLED, (toothpaste) circa 1975
silver gelatin print

provenance: the artist
previously published: Walter Pfeiffer 1970-1980, Elke Betzel verlag, Frankfurt am Main, 1981, Currency magazine, Issue 1, 2003, Walter Pfeiffer 1970-1980 re-edition, jrp | ringier, Zurich, 2004
image size: h:7.5cm X w:10.5cm
framed size: h:35cm X w:26cm


22
Sico Carlier
COSMIC WONDER S/S 2001, Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2000
captiva polaroids (2)

provenance: the artist
previously exhibited: Snippets/Dutch Fashion Photography, Museum Arnhem, 2003
image size: h:11cm X w:6.5cm (2)
framed size: h:29cm X w:30cm


Catalogue available on request.

May 1st 2015, Hollywood CA. Artist Sico Carlier unwraps from his blood dyed vintage Coach carry–on — one portrait and one landscape framed, neoteric art works.

On my arrival I spot change, the permanent residents artworks have been removed, closeted and replaced by a triptyque entitled ACTORS, ACTRESSES (& Children). I’m caught, looking through a somewhat situationist optical scope from the 18th floor, Sunset and Gordon overlooking the Hollywood Hills. It’s a sign, signalled by reflection in the artworks’ glass. Both works display beyond inner space by existential placement.

Glass being knowingly a common subject matter in Carlier's work; THE GREAT GLASS (Rotterdam, 1995), BLACK STARS ON A WHITE SKY (Sacy, 2010), SENTIER DU BUVIER (Paris, 2012), a collaborative piece juxtaposing panes of smoked glass with darkroom-prints based on negatives by Michel Amet (Paris, 2013), and STEM (Petersfield, 2014).

Facing east, the work ACTORS incorporates its title within the work in classic sans-serif narrow-black uppercase letters. A torn hair leaf, a wig perhaps – aligns top-left and suffers scattered double dome-like apertures. A neoplasticist-construct form frames the entire; off-red grid-dot spots, brown leather mimic plus an off-white postcard of a drawing plan for the sculpture-piece Beautiful Ruins by Isa Genzken. ACTORS, its protective glass bounces a reflection of the Griffiths Observatory, famously featured in Rebel Without a Cause (1955), starring James Dean and Sal Mineo. The landmark stages the final scene.

Opposite hangs ACTRESSES (& Children) facing west. It reminds me of the article I read that week in LA Weekly on ‘How Hollywood Keeps Out Women’.
Same style in type title except (& Children) half size, verso blonde hair page gives border-left to more brown leather, extended within a silhouetted cusp beside a gestured limit; this time more potent, the red again – a chiseled, elongated lipstick shape corresponding to the X-dimension of the left-border and neighbouring a young columned, chiseled beacon. A twin Buchholz produced Genzken postcard impregnates the experiment.
Reflected in its glass one finds “The House That Nat Built” — The Capitol Records building (1956, Welton Becket), yet through another window of the apartment. The sound of streaming lost traffic drifts a riff alongside the refrigerator.

One enters to stand confronted with Hollywood, its sign and the artists quadrantal ricochet play.

David G. Millhouse, Los Angeles, May 2015

96 pages, colour, 21 x 30 cm, English
Featured in the Jubilee issue of a bi-annual magazine, a journal on the personal experience of nature in the urban environment presented by Samira Ben Laloua, Frank Bruggeman, Ernst van der Hoeven.

Contributions by: Kirsten Algera, Max Andrews, Maria Barnas, Boudewijn Bollmann, Sico Carlier, Varvara Degtiarenko, Mathieu Gafsou, Hudson Gardner, Saskia Groneberg, HeHe, Renske Janssen, Sarah Jones, Richard John Jones, Jan Kempenaers, Dieuwertje Komen, Lucas Lenglet, Loes Martens, Ruchama Noorda, Christine Olejniczak, Pauline Oltheten, Christophe Ponceau & Adrien Rovero, Bas Princen, Domeniek Ruyters, Lonny van Ryswyck and Nadine Sterk, Angelique Spaninks, William Speakman, Wilma Suto, Wendy Taylor, Theo Tegelaers, Roel van Tour, Wolfgang Tillmans, Myrna van der Veen, Carlos Vergara, Jacob Wick, Maartje Wortel, Aly Song, Peter Zwaal

Bernhard Willhelm s/s 2013, styling by Sico Carlier, photography by Ari Versluis

film project, soundtrack by DMEAVX

Sentier des Pensards (2013) is a graphic evocation conceived by processing the library of the poet Leyn Leynse (1941-2006). The work intertwines individually numbered book titles. Page scanning, speed reading and numerical sequences all question the word superiority effect with cognitive psychology. These occurrences address the growing underlying reticence in so-called 'information-culture' that surrounds us, towards reading full volumes, and from A to Z. 'Sentier des Pensards' uses a bespoke typeface by David G. Millhouse and follows an animated baseline grid. The editing process aims to question or disrupt the hierarchical qualities of headings and titles. The work was featured as a piece of augmented reality in the German graphic design magazine ‘Slanted'.

Frank Taal Gallery Rotterdam presented 'Sentier des Pensards’ within the framework of the 44th Poetry International Festival Rotterdam.
https://vimeo.com/70472180

film project, soundtrack by DMEAVX
https://vimeo.com/47654525

tile designs and hard-wood floor designs for 250 rooms, Hotel Amano am Hauptbahnhof, Berlin, Germany

Graphisme et création contemporaine en France dans les années 2000, avec Change is good

with: Stephanie Gerner, Stephan Halter, Kai Teichert, Ben Vautier, Karol Slowik, James Edmonds, Deborah Wargon, Adam Nankervis, Lan Hungh

curated by Pablo Léon de la Barra

with: Jenny Brown, Laura Hatry, Anja Ziegler, Igor Omulecki, Shanghai Surbir, Ricci/Forte, APL 315, Deborah Wargon, Heide Hatry, Stephanie Gerner, James Edmonds, Anja Teske, David Medalla, Kai Teichert, Stefan Armor, Stephan Halter, Thomas Draschan, Stephan Apecilla-Hitchcock, Adam Nankervis

In 2008 Sico Carlier was invited to spend a year in a landmark modernist house designed (1929) by Theo van Doesburg in Meudon, now a suburb of Paris. During his year at the villa he was commissioned to write a future scenario for the house, and as a curator hosted interventions there by artists Tony Feher (USA-1956-2016) and Bas Van Beek (NL). He also worked on an (ongoing) project there concerning four women with strong relations to the history of the house; Nelly van Doesburg, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Peggy Guggenheim and Hannah Höch.

2007-2010 monthly product illustrations and fashion styling.

installation at Pitti Uomo, the yearly spring exhibition concerning men’s fashion.

also: advertisement art-direction for luxury sportswear brand *****L, Paris,
adverts published in: Above Magazine-London: Suite-Barcelona: Fantastic Man-Amsterdam: Fanzine 137-Madrid

with: Christophe Chemin, C. Depp, Bruce la Bruce, la Bourette, Patrick Vidal, Nicole Miquel

curated by Adam Nankervis, with: Colin mcPherson and Fiona Mitchie

curated by Adam Nankervis and Gordon Johnstone

curated by Koan Baysa and Matt Semler

with: Erik Hanson, Vicente Fita Botet, Bert Frings, Marco Schüler

curated by Rosell Heijnen and Jessica Hellbach
with: Freudenthal & Verhagen, Anuschka Blommers & Niels Schumm, Wouter van Riessen, Bianca Pilet, Maja Vojt, Joke Robaard, Maurice Scheltens

curated by Li Edelkoort
with: Ari Versluis & Ellie Uyttenbroek, Philippe Morillion, Tord Boontje, Raf Simons, Jurgen Bey, Carlos Amorales, Walter van Beirendonck, Yoko Ono, Kenji Yanobe, Alicia Framis, Shirin Neshat

with: Vincent Fecteau, Jimi Dams, Dike Blair, Beatrice Cussol, Anuschka Blommers & Niels Schumm, Jason Fox, Huma Bhabha
Sico Carlier’s work most captures the drug-saturated, boy-worshiping decadence of Dennis Cooper’s text, David Bonetti: the San Francisco Chronicle

curated by Adam Nankervis

Sico Carlier, a taster!, his 22-page insert for Devon Dikeou’s zingmagazine 16, was one of the 10 most interesting things we came across selecting from everything on offer in New York City’s stores right now.

portraying Eileen Myles, after Mapplethorpe

KUT: the pre-curser of GLU (Girls Like Us) by Jessica Gysel

interviewing: Andrew Logan, Tony Feher, Joshua Sofaer, FX Courrèges

including: Runa Islam, Guillaume Paris, David Medalla & Adam Nankervis, Peter Lewis, Pascal Gatzen.

intriguing collages, unapologetically showing what makes a man a man: Peter de Potter, I-D #211

during 2001 also at: Gracie Mansion Gallery, New York City, U.S.A. / Galerie S.& H.de Buck, Gent, Belgium / Art Process, Paris, France / Allston Skirt Gallery, Boston, U.S.A.
with: Jimi Dams, Amanda Lear, Lucky DeBellevue, Ilona Rich, Roberto Deluna, Dike Blair, Dudley Klute, Jesse Bransford, Erik Hanson, Anuschka Blommers & Niels Schumm, B.Wurtz

Sico Carlier’s crazy dialogue in red lettering wallpapered the gallery: Angus Ivy in zingmagazine. Seldom seen, witty text pieces appear throughout the gallery: Holland Cotter in the New York Times.

art work and editorial at BUTT magazine (issue1> 6) Amsterdam, the Netherlands

a magazine by Peter Halley

curated by Arno van Roosmalen

_

ISBN 90-805338-3-5

with: Jimi Dams, Lisa Beck, Kinke Kooi, Scott Hug, Victor & Rolf, Lucky DeBellevue

with: Janine Gordon, Isis Vaandrager, the complete and final year of weekly Jackie 60 flyers, Nafer Loves You

presenting: Joshua Sofaer’s FLESH CONFRONTATION

a groupshow on cultural fluctuation, gender and identity bending, with playfull and subversive interventions substituting and fusing racial coordinates. with: Guillaume Paris as guest-curator, including: Joe Allen, the Mondrian Fanclub, Janice Krasnow, Runa Islam, Peter Lewis, Vincent Pruden, les Plasticiens Guerriers d’Afrique de l’Ouest

film-installation by Wendelien van Oldenborgh, Salle de Bains, Rotterdam

Salle de Bruits/Quadrophonic Soundscape remix 2012 by Paul de Jong



Salle de Bruits has been installed 4 times:

Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Artspace Si en La, Antwerp, Belgium
Office Salle de Bains, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Storefront Art & Architecture, New York City, U.S.A.

In 1997 and 1998 at Salle de Bains, Rotterdam, we were promoting our publication 'Tijdschrift 3'.
I asked composer Paul de Jong in New York to process sound-recordings requested by us from the contributors to this magazine.
The aim was to create an interesting proposal adaptable to several art-spaces which were willing to serve us as a context to promote our magazine.
The result was the sound-installation 'Salle de Bruits': a quadrophonic set up in which 4 mini-disc players randomly fed soundbites into the room(s), thus creating forever changing sonic landscapes.
This soundcloud offers a 'frozen', 'possible' version, only mimicking what was the effect of entering the actual installations at the time.

Some of the voices, contributors:
Michel van Adrichem
Eileen Myles
Carel Alphenaar (Gertrude Stein)
Mark Pimlott
Christoph Bannat
Erik Hanson
Trees Bouma
Guillaume Paris
Phillip Ganchine
M.C. de Waal
Geerten Ten Bosch
David Medalla

curated by the Mondrian Fanclub

with: Phillipe Caurant, Robert Funk, Tariq Alvi, Lidy Jacobs, Michel van Adrichem, Erik Hanson, Ari Versluis & Ellie Uyttenbroek, Guillaume Paris, David Medalla & Adam Nankervis, Mike Mills for Marc Jacobs

with: Jaap Joziasse, Roland Schimmel, Michel Wieggers, Michel van Adrichem, MC de Waal, Ari Versluis, Kinke Kooi, Gina Kranendonk, Lorène Bourguignon
This show inspired and gave its name to the artist-run space HOLLAND TUNNEL, which still functions today in Williamsburg, N.Y. and on the island of Paros, Greece

invited by Wim van Krimpen

with: Lian Meijaard and Menno Minke

with: Yvonne van Buuren, Michel van Adrichem, Lidy Jacobs, Ari Versluis, Leon Dekker, Daan van Golden

TSO, publicity department, painting department
1984 – 1990

sculpture
1989

painting
1988