Vincent Ganivet
B. 1976 in France, Vincent Ganivet graduated from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris in 2001. He currently lives and works in the Ile-Saint-Denis region of suburban Paris. He is represented by the Galerie Yvon Lambert in Paris and New York.

Statement
Vincent Ganivet’s artistic approach developed in the field of sculpture. The artist deliberately makes use of ‘valueless’ materials such as concrete blocks, building site engines, bricks and wooden blocks. Seriously taking on the role of constructor, even engineer, Vincent Ganivet subverts the divide between artist and craftsman. The stunningly menacing, freestanding monumental archways that he has exhibited over the past number of years in French and international institutions such as the Palais de Tokyo, Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, MAMAC Nice, the Lambert Avignon Collection, etc., were constructed without glue or any other adhesive, and stand together due to the force of their curves or line. Through his gestures, combined with a certain kind of triviality, Vincent Ganivet marries the dynamics of the builder with the physical labour of the building site; his ingenuity is all empirical. The balancing point always appears fragile and derisory, on the edge of collapse.

Fontaine 1, 2011
Sculpture (sink, dishes, water pump)
Variable dimensions
Unique piece
Acquisition in 2011

Fontaine 1 is a piece consisting of ware arranged in a sink with a ribbon of water flowing in a closed circuit. This sculpture can be seen as an extension of certain oeuvres by other artists based on the same liquid element and making use of piping systems. Since 2005, Dégâts des Eaux, a drip or leak of water through a ceiling raises water damage in a neighbouring apartment to the level of sculpture. In 2011, Ajutage disturbed and diverted the flow of water from the large open air fountain in the king’s vegetable garden at Versailles (Balades en Yvelines, 2011). The visual and sound quality of Vincent Ganivet’s oeuvres, impregnated with a certain degree of coincidence and poetry, invite the public to reflect or contemplate. Created firstly at home and filmed on camcorder (Vaisselle, 2008), the Fontaines have existed since 2011 as a sculptural form. Like suspended stars, unstable and caught up in a precarious movement of gravity, plates, glasses and coffee cups balance in space, for better or for worse, in an attempt to magnify the present moment. Vincent Ganivet’s works, with their absurd and amusing water effects transpose the solemn grandeur of the Grandes Eaux de Versailles (Versailles fountains show) to a domestic setting.