Wolfsburg,Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Francis Alÿs: Walking distance from the Studio, 4 September – 28 November 2004
Nantes, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Francis Alÿs: La Cour des Miracles, 8 January - 6 March 2005
Barcelona, MACBA, Francis Alÿs: Walking Distance from the Studio, 27 May-29 August 2005
Mexico City, Walking Distance from the Studio, Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso, 2006
Munich, Sammlung Goetz, Francis Alys, 26 May - 11 October 2008
Gelsenkirchen, Nord Stern Turm, Schichtwechsel, 6 October 2012 – 13 July 13 2013
Carlos Monsivais, Le Centre Historique de la Ville de Mexico, Francis Alÿs, Les Presses du Réel, Dijon, 2005, S. 38
Julia Stoschek, Collection Number One: Destroy, she said, Ostfildern, Hfatje Cantz Verlag, 2008, pp. 83-89
Ingvild Goetz / Karsten Löckemann / Stephan Urbaschek, Francis Alÿs, München, Kunstverlag
Ingvild Goetz GmbH, 2008, Beggars, 2004, p. 124-125
Mark Godfrey, Klaus Biesenbach, Kerryn Greenberg, A Story of Deception, Tate Publishing, London, 2010
Belgian / Mexican • 1959
Born in Belgium, Francis Alÿs traveled to Mexico in 1986 as part of a French program to assist in the aftermath of the tragic 1985 earthquake, and has lived there ever since. Throughout his career, the artist has analyzed facets of everyday urban life using a variety of media including video, drawing, installation and public action. Sign Painting Project (1993-'97) is a prime example of the artist's interest in the sprawling urbanization of Mexico City. In this early series, Alÿs drew inspiration from professional Mexican sign painters (rotúlistas) who painted large billboard advertisements throughout the city. In response to these large colorful compositions, Alÿs employed a similar style in creating small-scale paintings of familiar objects and places. Alÿs asked various rotúlistas to copy and enlarge his paintings, displaying his work and that of the rotúlista side-by-side. This series, like many of Alÿs' other works, illustrates the artist's concerns with such themes as collaboration, banality and originality.
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