Aquatint on Hahnemühle copperplate paper, 300 gsm, 30 x 42 inches
Paolo Canevari, photograph by Adèle Jancovici.
In the studio
Aquatint on Hahnemühle copperplate paper, 300 gsm, 30 x 42 inches
Adèle Jancovici. Photograph by Audrey R. Smith.
Born into a family of artists and publishers, Adèle Jancovici was destined for a career in the arts. Her father, Harry Jancovici worked with Tom Wesselman, Francis Bacon, Jeff Koons, and Chuck Close, among others. Louise Bourgeois was a family friend and confidant, inspiring Jancovici’s development in the arts. Her career began at the age of 15, writing art pieces for Area Revue. She continued as a photographer, writer and stylist for a number of Parisian magazines and websites, including Technikart, Intersection, Point de Vue, and Standard. After moving to NYC in 2009, she modeled for a special project by Marc Jacobs and worked as studio manager for Maripol. In 2011, Ms. Jancovici came into her own when she founded Le Livre Art Publishing (LLAP).
Jancovici’s relationship with Louise Bourgeois started twenty some years ago and grew into a deep connection that made possible the existence of LLAP today. LLAP’s name offers homage to Louise, who came into Jancovici’s life when she was just a child and left an indelible mark. “Le Livre” is an unadorned reference to the book Louise once gave to Jancovici, Les Mésaventures d’un Chien by Benjamin Rabier. To the young Jancovici, Louise personified and represented how art became human, and her vibrancy, tenacity and vulnerability became the foundational traits of LLAP.
As publisher, Jancovici collaborates with artists to produce editions in various forms, be it books, prints, and other media that offer a public space for the private thought. The company released its first project in Spring 2014. Maripola X, a signed and numbered edition of six hundred books, presenting Maripol’s collection of personal erotic photographs and her poetry diaries. With the support of Marc Jacobs’ Bookmarc, Maripola X was successfully launched in Paris, London, New York, Los Angeles and Tokyo.
Monuments of the Memory: Monotypes by Paolo Canevari, the second project, releases in February 2015. Canevari is a classically trained Italian artist whose practice spans sculpture, drawing, painting, and video. As Jancovici notes, “Paolo come from a Roman family of artists and bears the weight of art history. This is a very different direction in his work. It used to be very figurative and illustrative. Monuments of the Memory (MOTM) is abstract, masculine, and sensitive at the same time. It is a very powerful work.”
Monuments of the Memory is a series of 20 etchings that are made using seven different plates of different shapes and measures, all of them printed completely black on white. The work is composed to look like totems, with stacks of black shapes. It acts as a reflection about the power of our imagination, inviting us to be still in contemplation of life in the abstract, considering the sacred as it finds its way in wholeness and emptiness at the same time.
Jancovici notes, “The prints were inspired by a series of black paintings in Paolo’s studio that have been reproduced to the exact centimeter in size and shape as masterpieces of art history.” She adds, “Our original project was going to be an homage to Louise Bourgeois. It was going to be the first project from LLAP, but it went another direction. It took longer to create. It is like tea: some teas can be infused for five minutes while others need fifteen minutes. Monuments of the Memory could not have launched any earlier. It demanded more maturity on my part. It needed patience, and I am the very impatient sort. This project was much heavier, and much lighter at the same time. Our relationship was very strong and built on trust. It was very collaborative. Paolo gave me a lot of latitude. It took three years to make the perfect brew. I learned to trust the process, and I realized it was going to happen when it was supposed to happen. And it happened under the best conditions you could have.”
And it is this sensitivity to timing and to mutuality that marks Monuments of the Memory as something very special. Rather than organizing a regular art opening, LLAP has designed a private and collaborative experience of the art, one that synthesizes the senses in the experience of the work. In late February, LLAP will host a series of events in the refectory of the Highline Hotel, in New York, which include a cocktail reception, and presentation of artworks by appointment to share the work in an intimate setting.
As Jancovici notes, “The refectory room is the perfect space for Paolo’s work. His work can be very Gothic. When you enter the space, everything is focused on the experience of the work. You will not just see or look but experience it with all of your senses. We created a scent that comes in the shape of a candle made out of black wax that disappears as it burns. It doesn’t melt, but rather it consumes and then it is gone.” The scent created has notes of pine needles, knotted marjoram, and cedar, creating a rich, deep, earthy, warm, and mysterious sensibility.
Adding to the experience is a ten-minute loop of sound that plays all night long. As Jancovici explains, “It puts you back in the womb and it takes you out. It is a game of opposites, of unity and uniqueness. The sound envelops you, it embraces you, and it pushes you out. It makes you both feel at home and uncomfortable. It is not music, but it is a sound. We had a musician, Christine Webster, produce it. I gave her a list of words that I had in mind, words like heartbeat, white noise, and universe, and I sent those words along with the images. I told her to create it as a gesture of open arms. She produced something that brought me to tears. It is very rare that you can tell someone that they understood exactly what you wanted and have done better than you could have imagined possible. The works are vibrating energetically, and that translates into a sound and a scent. MOTM is a story of intimacy, of interpersonal relationships. It demands that a person be there and explain the work to you personally.
“Monuments of the Memory ties to time, to the past, present, and future. There is a reverence for what has been, a love and respect for the creator and the creation that shows lineage and heritage through art. “To me, chic is silence, and right now, it is monochromatic tones, a calm, and spiritual elevation. Chic is some kind of warm distance. It is not aggressive. It is not invisible. It is there, subtle, not asking for attention in an obvious way.”
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Photographs and Artwork courtesy of Le Livre Art Publishing
Curated by Miss Rosen
Aquatint on Hahnemühle copperplate paper, 300 gsm, 30 x 42 inches
In the studio
In the studio
In the studio
Aquatint on Hahnemühle copperplate paper, 300 gsm, 30 x 42 inches
