GALERIE MAISONNEUVE / MARTIN / AMERICAINS




	The Supreme Bean café, Bakersfield, CA, 2006 B/W photograph, 22,5 X 33,7cm / 9 X 13 inches



	PRESS RELEASE « This is how I've entered California. The name is almost as magical as "New York." It's the land of streets paved with gold, of pioneers and cowboys. Through history and movies it's become a legendary country that, like all legends, belongs to my past. I’m burning with impatience. This time I’m not arriving as a tourist in a land where nothing is meant for me; I’m coming to see a woman friend who happens to be living in a land everyone says is marvelous. It’s perhaps even stranger to feel expected in an unknown place than to prepare yourself to disembark without help. I don’t know what awaits me, but someone knows. The sea, orange juice, mountains, flowers, whiskeys — I’m not going to encounter them and try to possess them; they will be given to me. Someone is waiting for the right moment to present them to me as a gift. They already are a gift; and in my heart I feel the anxiety and greed of childhood Christmas Eves. » Simone de Beauvoir in America Day By Day, 1947 Translation by Carol Cosman, University Press of California, Berkeley, 1999 In Américains d'Amérique, Olive Martin presents thirty-one of the black-and-white photographs taken between 2004 and 2006 during her three trips to California to stay with her friend and collaborator, the Los Angeles writer April Durham. « These black-and-white photographs, which are of a documentary nature, were taken in the social and geographical landscape of California. They are portraits as much as lanscapes, street scenes or still lives, the result of long reminiscence and the influence photography, cinema or American literature have had upon me. They represent a glance, full of expectation, criticism and idealization, at this society and culture, one that reality puts to the test via travel. » Olive Martin, April 2008 Under the same title, Américains d'Amérique (appropriated from the French translation of The Making of Americans by Gertrude Stein), an art book (26 x 820 cm, ed. of 20) contains twenty-nine images from the series and six texts by April Durham. The book follows on from a previous collaborative work by the two artists: Common objects, published by Joca Seria in Nantes in 2005 and Beyond Baroque Books in Los Angeles in 2006. Olive Martin was born in Belgium in 1972. She lives and works in Nantes, France. Olive Martin has partnered on many projects with Patrick Bernier; Manmuswak, 16 min. 35mm film (2005), was highlighted in an exhibition at galerie Maisonneuve in 2005. This film has been shown in many festivals and venues including, the 58th International Film Festival of Locarno, the International Film Festival in Rotterdam in 2006, screenings, the Jeu de Paume in October 2007, cinemas and TV. It has received several awards including the Grand Prix du Jury at the Premiers Plans Festival in Angers in 2006, "best fiction film" at Douarnenez Festival in 2006, She collaborated in 2007 with Patrick Bernier on Projet pour une jurisprudence during a fellowship at Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers, whose X. Contre préfet de..., Plaidoirie pour une jurisprudence, the "happening" version of the project (in collaboration with jurists Sylvia Preuss-Laussinotte and Sébastien Canevet) has been performed several times in Paris . It will be performed on May 10, 2008 in Extra-City at Antwerp, Belgium. This exhibition has been made possible with the support of City de Paris, Department of Art in the City, and by the Loire Regional Offices Press Release - PDF version More informations: Artist Biography Project for a legal precedent / Laboratoires d'Aubervilliers "X. v. Prefect of..." Consel's speech for a legal precedent in Shadow Cabinet, a proposition by Vincent Meessen, Extra City, Antwerp, Saturday 10th May 2008 at 6 pm



	1/ Stevenson Ranch neighborhood, Valencia, California, 2004 2007-2008
	B/W photograph, 22,5 X 33,7cm / 9 X 13 inches ed. 5









		2/ Downtown bus line, Los Angeles, California, 2004 2007-2008
		B/W photograph, 33,7 x 22,5 cm / 13 x 9 inches ed. 5



		3/ Downtown bus line, Los Angeles, California, 2004 2007-2008
		B/W photograph, 33,7 x 22,5 cm / 13 x 9 inches ed. 5









		4/ Pine Mountain Club, village center, California, 2004 2007-2008
		B/W photograph, 33,7 x 22,5 cm / 13 x 9 inches ed. 5



		5/ Pine Mountain Club, California, 2004 2007-2008
		B/W photograph, 33,7 x 22,5 cm / 13 x 9 inches ed. 5



		6/ A Danny Lyon photograph at MOCA "Street credibility" exhibition, Los Angeles, California, 2004 2007-2008
		B/W photograph, 33,7 x 22,5 cm / 13 x 9 inches ed. 5










		7/ Diner on West Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, 2004 2007-2008
		B/W photograph, 33,7 x 22,5 cm / 13 x 9 inches ed. 5



		8/ Downtown Los Angeles, California, 2004 2007-2008
		B/W photograph, 33,7 x 22,5 cm / 13 x 9 inches ed. 5



		9/ North Main Street, Los Angeles, California, 2004 2007-2008
		B/W photograph, 33,7 x 22,5 cm / 13 x 9 inches ed. 5










	10/ A George Grosz painting at Los Angeles County Museum, California, 2004 2007-2008
	B/W photograph, 22,5 X 33,7cm / 9 X 13 inches ed. 5



		11/ Los Angeles County Museum, California, 2004 2007-2008
		B/W photograph, 33,7 x 22,5 cm / 13 x 9 inches ed. 5









		12/ Rite Aid Drug Store, Westchester District, Los Angeles, California, 2006 2007-2008
		B/W photograph, 33,7 x 22,5 cm / 13 x 9 inches ed. 5



		13/ Private bathroom, Yucaipa, California, 2006 2007-2008
		B/W photograph, 33,7 x 22,5 cm / 13 x 9 inches ed. 5



		14/ San Emigdio Mountains, California, 2006 2007-2008
		B/W photograph, 33,7 x 22,5 cm / 13 x 9 inches ed. 5









	15/ On the 405 freeway, South, Los Angeles, California, 2006 2007-2008
	B/W photograph, 22,5 X 33,7cm / 9 X 13 inches ed. 5



		16/ Yucaipa Boulevard, Yucaipa, California, 2006 2007-2008
		B/W photograph, 33,7 x 22,5 cm / 13 x 9 inches ed. 5









	17/ Castaic, California, 2004 2007-2008
	B/W photograph, 22,5 X 33,7cm / 9 X 13 inches ed. 5









		18/ Downtown Los Angeles, California, 2004 2007-2008
		B/W photograph, 33,7 x 22,5 cm / 13 x 9 inches ed. 5


		19/ Downtown Los Angeles, California, 2004 2007-2008
		B/W photograph, 33,7 x 22,5 cm / 13 x 9 inches ed. 5









	20/ Golden Gate bridge, San Francisco, California, 2006 2007-2008
	B/W photograph, 22,5 X 33,7cm / 9 X 13 inches ed. 5



	21/ *Golden Gate bridge, San Francisco, California, 2006* 2007-2008
	B/W photograph, 22,5 X 33,7cm / 9 X 13 inches ed. 5



	22/ Downtown Los Angeles, California, 2004 2007-2008
	B/W photograph, 22,5 X 33,7cm / 9 X 13 inches ed. 5









	23/ On the Interstate 5, California, 2006 2007-2008
	B/W photograph, 22,5 X 33,7cm / 9 X 13 inches ed. 5



	24/ In a Diner on West Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, 2004 2007-2008
	B/W photograph, 22,5 X 33,7cm / 9 X 13 inches ed. 5



		25/ Boarding zone, Orly Airport, 2006 2007-2008
		B/W photograph, 33,7 x 22,5 cm / 13 x 9 inches ed. 5



		26/ Gas station on the Interstate 5, California, 2004 2007-2008
		B/W photograph, 33,7 x 22,5 cm / 13 x 9 inches ed. 5



		27/ Lilac Festival, Pine Mountain Club, California, 2004 2007-2008
		B/W photograph, 33,7 x 22,5 cm / 13 x 9 inches ed. 5









		28/ Kern River in Bakersfield, California, 2006 2007-2008
		B/W photograph, 33,7 x 22,5 cm / 13 x 9 inches ed. 5



	29/ Kern River in Bakersfield, California, 2006 2007-2008
	B/W photograph, 22,5 X 33,7cm / 9 X 13 inches ed. 5










		30/ Ralphs Market parking lot, Castaic, California, 2004 2007-2008
		B/W photograph, 33,7 x 22,5 cm / 13 x 9 inches ed. 5



	31/ Pine Mountain Club, California, 2006 2007-2008
	B/W photograph, 22,5 X 33,7cm / 9 X 13 inches ed. 5