Claude Lévêque, Le grand soir, 2009, Néon blanc 200 x 177 cm, 3 exemplaires. Photo Charles Duprat, © ADAGP Claude Lévêque, Courtesy the artist and kamel mennour, Paris.

French Pavilion

53rd International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia

Claude Lévêque

Le Grand Soir

June 7 - November 22, 2009
Curator: Christian Bernard

Claude Lévêque spearheads French representation at Venice Biennale.

This year Claude Lévêque is the artist who will represent France at the 53rd International Exhibition of Art – La Biennale di Venezia. At the French Pavilion, he will feature an installation entitled "Le Grand Soir", which will be in character with the thrust of his work. A uniquely French concept from the eve of the Revolution, "Le Grand Soir" evokes the moment when the world changed.

To support him in this project, Claude Lévêque has selected Christian Bernard as curator; Christian Bernard is the director of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Geneva.

Under the administration of Daniel Birnbaum, a Swedish art critic and philosopher, the 53rd International Exhibition of Art – La Biennale di Venezia's theme this year is : Making Worlds. It questions the process of artistic creation.

Claude Lévêque has been recognized for years as a major artist on the French and international scene. His works refer to popular culture, to the everyday environment, and to mental images. He creates ambiances, environments and objects while expanding the installation's dimensions through the use of the sensory effectiveness of light and sound. Playing on the ability of the works to provoke visual and sensory emotions, he shakes up the perceptual and reactive habits of the cultural references necessary to his creation.

On the occasion of the exhibit Le Grand Soir, Culturesfrance, the Centre National des Arts Plastiques and Flammarion are co-publishing a monograph on Claude Lévêque in French and English. It will be available in June.

The general curatorship of the French Pavilion will be ensured by Culturesfrance, in collaboration with the French Ministry of Culture and Communication / Visual Arts Delegation and the Centre National des Arts Plastiques.

For additional press information, contact Marie Bauer, Heymann Renoult Associées, +33 1 44 61 76 76 or email m.bauer@heymann-renoult.com