Le Jeu de la rose et du carré 8 Flags

Initiated in 2021, the 8 Flags program invites artists to take over the eight flagpoles on the roof of the Villa Paloma. Shimabuku, Pierre Bismuth, Nick Mauss, George Condo, Laure Prouvost, Pier Paolo Calzolari, Miquel Barceló, Francisco Tropa, Chloé Royer and Flore Saunois have all taken part to date.

In the context of the exhibition “Victor Brauner, the Magical Adventure”, the NMNM has asked Karina Bisch and Nicolas Chardon (CONNOISSEURS) to join the family and bring together eight artists to reinterpret the famous Jeu de Marseille, a variation on the traditional Marseilles Tarot deck of 54 cards dreamed up by the Surrealists in March 1941 at the Villa Air-Bel in Marseilles.

André Breton and eight painters living in France in exile at the time (Victor Brauner, Frédéric Delanglade, Óscar Domínguez, Max Ernst, Jacques Hérold, Wifredo Lam, Jacqueline Lamba, André Masson) are now followed by Karina Bisch and Nicolas Chardon, Corentin Canesson, Fabien Gharbi, Niels Hung, Nicolas Jasmin, Anne Neukamp, Camila Oliveira Fairclough, Lili Reynaud Dewar, and Anne Laure Sacriste. In the manner of a cadavre exquis, visuals of these artists’ works have led to the invention of new figures and the creation of reverse sides of these cards that have been turned into flags.

Artists, publishers, collectors, curators and exhibition organizers: it is through the lens of these intermingling activities that we developed the eight flags on the Villa Paloma, where the Monaco winds riffle the cards of an open deck celebrating passion and reason, the square and the rose.

Between these two figures, which stand both as symbols and motifs, the heads of a new heraldry fly. In this giant, flowing tarot, can the image of tomorrow’s painting be seen? From Lili’s dancing red body to Fabien’s Balise révélatrice – revealing yet ever enigmatic – the full scope of our gazes, exchanges and relationships is at play. Nicolas goes for strategy, while Anne and Camila hail a sparsity of signs. Anne Laure praises doubles and Corentin extols downfalls. Will this fine and funny festooning be remembered? Don’t forget, paints Niels, by heart!

Curated by Benjamin Laugier