Artist: Mathis Collins
Exhibition title: Boulevard du crime
Venue: Crèvecoeur, Paris, France
Date: November 29, 2019 – January 11, 2020
Photography: © Aurélien Mole, all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Crèvecoeur, Paris
It’s Mathis’ party. But Mathis is not so keen to hear that. He orders the Comédie Française’s police to stop it right away. Thus perched on their stilts and skillfully handling their flaming torches, the best actors in the kingdom run to the Faubourg Saint Antoine where the artist resides.
Strong words burst forth. An insult is pronounced by a pretentious actor. Mathis takes out his glove and slaps him in the face. A duel is inevitable. It’ll be a Slam contest. Mathis, who had practiced this noble art in his youth, crucifies the courtisan with a two-way rhyme from which he does not get back on his feet. The last poet standing is in return banished from La Maison des Artistes. A terrible blow for the one who proudly wears the badge of his confederation. Even though his quarterly membership suffers a slight delay, kicking him out is a death sentence.
-Intermission-
Mathis congratulates his militia after enjoying the tale of their defeat. He commissions two new plays but swares he will no longer suffer this contemporary theatre. So he closes the shop in Avignon and bans clowns. He sends away the Italian actors who had until then been protected by Marie de Médicis. The Commedia dell’arte disappears. The censorship enters stage left and condemns the Lazzi Pulcinella to forced labour.
No more laughter in Paris. Mathis knew Pulcinella from the time they worked together on arts & crafts workshops for «sensitive» audiences. Today, as a tooth puller, he decides to keep the show alive. But the gendarmes spy on all carnivals. They will therefore get a taste of a doll with a wooden head mounted on a sublime little sequin costume that emerges over the fringes of a protective fence. The improvisation is maybe felt a little behind his mask of laughter and tears. But Mathis disappears, and the puppet is alive, the roles are reversed, the puppeteer is but a doll. The king of fools, by his crime has people laugh and cry.
Mathis Collins, Boulevard du crime, 2019, exhibition view, Crèvecoeur, Paris
Mathis Collins, Boulevard du crime, 2019, exhibition view, Crèvecoeur, Paris
Mathis Collins, Boulevard du crime, 2019, exhibition view, Crèvecoeur, Paris
Mathis Collins, Boulevard du crime, 2019, exhibition view, Crèvecoeur, Paris
Mathis Collins, Boulevard du crime, 2019, exhibition view, Crèvecoeur, Paris
Mathis Collins, Boulevard du crime, 2019, exhibition view, Crèvecoeur, Paris
Mathis Collins, Boulevard du crime, 2019, exhibition view, Crèvecoeur, Paris
Mathis Collins, Boulevard du crime, 2019, exhibition view, Crèvecoeur, Paris
Mathis Collins, Bravo, vraiment vous faites un très beau métier, 2019, Lime wood, tint, varnished, 150 × 110 cm
Mathis Collins, Terrible ce spectable, terrible, 2019, Lime wood, tint, varnished, 150 × 110 cm
Mathis Collins, Une comédie aux dépens de l’hygiène publique, 2019, Lime wood, tint, varnished, 150 × 110 cm
Mathis Collins, Une tragédie aux dépens de l’ordre public, 2019, Lime wood, tint, varnished, 150 × 110 cm
Mathis Collins, Deux critiques sur le boulevard du crime, 2019, Lime wood, tint, varnished, 150 × 110 cm
Mathis Collins, Bonjour, est-ce que vous allez bien , 2019, Lime wood, tint, varnished, 150 × 110 cm
Mathis Collins, En attendant le nouveau crime de Mathis Collins, 2019, Lime wood, tint, varnished, 150 × 110 cm
Mathis Collins, Polichinelle au chevalet, 2019, Lime wood, tint, varnished, 89 × 40,5 cm
