129. OLIVIER MILLAGOU: A SPACE BETWEEN PIN AND PARADISE.
Drawing Pin - MAC VAL - Musée d’art contemporain du Val-de-Marne.
Olivier Millagou, Drawing Pin - MAC VAL - Musée d’art contemporain du Val-de-Marne.
‘I chose stars for their countless possible symbolic meanings. They can be geometric figures, celestial bodies, sporting symbols, celebrity symbols, heraldic symbols, religious symbols, as well as being found in the sea… and I also had this desire to draw a starry sky, to offer a simple representation of moments of contemplation. For a time, I tried to depict, in a way, landscapes of a lost paradise.’ O.M.
Please can you introduce the installation on show at MAC VAL.
This is a wall drawing created with gold pins on a black wall. Each drawing in this series has a generic title, Drawing-Pin. This one dates from 2024 and depicts a starry sky.
On viewing the work for the first time, the atmosphere within that space felt hallowed... the remains of something... as a frieze high on a wall, and yet also deeply celebratory - please can you discuss how you decided upon the work's installation?
This drawing is the last in the Drawing-Pins series, and it differs from my previous works because it originated from an invitation by Christoph Wiesner to participate in an exhibition at the Esther Schipper Gallery in Berlin, where all the works were to be displayed on the ceiling. I proposed the idea of a mural, placed high on a wall, with a design that varied without repeating. The method of installation is defined by the material itself: a thumbtack in a wall.
The choice of materials and application really fascinated me... and the sense of permanence and non-permanence... a site-specific installation pinned down, studded as a piece of upholstered furniture, and yet there was a sense of punk somehow, of breaking rules... and yet a feeling of such liberating beauty which felt as art nouveau...
The Drawing-Pins series began with my very first exhibitions.
These drawings arose from several desires: the first was to imagine a way to display drawings using a material I could reuse for multiple exhibitions, and produced in France (for exhibitions within the country, but also produced in other countries to avoid transporting artworks). The second was to respond to an economic and philosophical necessity of creating work without a studio. And the third, finally, was to question that moment in life when we leave behind our childhood constructs to become adults. I was interested in the idea that at some point, the posters displayed on our bedroom walls during our childhood are eventually removed. Symbolically, all that remains are the pins on the walls, becoming points that can be connected, and which can represent a remnant of what these posters may have left on us.
I started with this project by thinking about a work that could occupy a space with small things, in this case, thumbtacks, which, once the exhibition is over, become functional objects again or are reused for the next exhibition, or recycled. There was a real desire to do something with very little, and like the idea of punk, to make do with what you have on hand; in fact, the first drawings were a series of band logos.
The pin feels symbolic, somehow an invisible item which is generally used to pierce a surface in order to present another element, and yet within this work - the pin is central, and yet from a distance the entirety of the stars become something else... they become a whole, made of tiny elements...
You could find several kinds of thumbtacks commercially: some with colored plastic film, others simply made of brass. I opted for the brass version because this material can be recycled indefinitely. It represented a common, simple, and functional object.
The way I found at that time to question the consequences of the climate crisis was to systematically paint all the walls of my exhibitions matte black, thus contrasting the colours of the images I was referencing. I like this contrast, offering something humble alongside something bright, sparkling, and present, mimicking precious materials with modest ones. The idea of using materials that normally serve only as functional elements as central elements also stemmed from the desire to find ways to produce a work of art while limiting the consumption of raw materials and energy.
The motif of a star, historically, is very specific, and yet has become synonymous with magic, festive seasons and fame... a divisive symbol which sometimes evokes much pressure, and within a work made of pins... There seems to be an irresistible connection. What does the star mean for you?
I chose stars for their countless possible symbolic meanings. They can be geometric figures, celestial bodies, sporting symbols, celebrity symbols, heraldic symbols, religious symbols, as well as being found in the sea… and I also had this desire to draw a starry sky, to offer a simple representation of moments of contemplation. For a time, I tried to depict, in a way, landscapes of a lost paradise.
Olivier Millagou, Drawing Pin - MAC VAL - Musée d’art contemporain du Val-de-Marne.