Originally educated in political and social sciences, Eric Baudelaire (*1973 in Salt Lake City, lives and works in Paris) has established himself as a visual artist whose diverse practice comprises mainly film and video installations, but also work with photography, collage, printing techniques and objects. His works focus on socio-political and socio-economic aspects and are mostly based on extensive research. The work One Hollow Brick (2018) is the result of a collaboration of the artist with the designer Sonia Ahmimou (*1988 in Nice, lives and works in Paris). Ahmimou worked for the French luxury brands Louis Vuitton, Hermès, and Moyna for eight years before founding her own brand of leather goods. For this edition, bricks found in the Villa Medici in Rome were individually sewn into a completely sealed bag made of the finest leather. With subtle irony, Baudelaire and Ahmimou create a connection between the art market and the production of luxury goods that refers to mechanisms of artificial scarcity and the conflict-laden relationships between art and economy. The perception of objects traded as status symbols remains reduced to the surface, the inside remains mystically concealed – a reference to Marcel Duchamp’s Etant Donnés, a work that interacts with the desire of the audience.

Eric Baudelaire’s works were presented at, among others, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (2018); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2017, 2007); Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Leipzig (2017); Witte de With, Rotterdam (2017); MAXXI, Rome (2017); Whitney Biennial (2017); Biennale de Montréal (2016); Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid (2016); Sharjah Biennial (2015); Palais des Beaux Arts, Paris (2015); Berkeley Art Museum, San Francisco (2015); Fridericianum, Kassel (2014).