Sa place est dans notre coeur … nous avions le même coeur …

… Nous nous sommes rencontrés à Marseille l’été 1994 invité par Roger Pailhas pour l’exposition «Economies».
… Jimmie est resté à Marseille plus de deux ans tombé sous le charme de cette ville sauvage …

Il a révolutionné la sculpture, il a réinventé la poésie des mots de des choses,
bricoleur comme Filliou, poète comme Broodthaers,
Jimmie était au sommet du plus fragile …
Jimmie était au cœur de toutes les marges…

Sans prévenir il nous a quitté… parti soudain aller chasser dans d’autres contrées comme il les aimait tant…
inexplorées.

A place in our hearts forever he holds,
We shared that in common, our heart.

… Meeting in Marseille the summer of 1994, we were invited by Roger Pailhas to the exhibition « Economies »
… Jimmie would go on to stay on in Marseille for more than two years, falling under the charms of the wild city …

A revolutionizer of sculpture,
He reimagined poetry, from words, out of things.
Like Filliou, like Broothaers,
Jimmie, the most fragile,
Jimmie, at the heart of the farthest-reaching planes.

Without warning he left us… suddenly, on a hunt for new pastures. As he’d always so adored…                                                   

The undiscovered.

Words by Frank Perrin

It is with great sorrow that Crash shares the news of the passing of Jimmie Durham, dear friend of Editor in Chief, Armelle Leturcq and Frank Perrin, Crash’s publisher.

Jimmie was a magnificent artist, designer, poet and writer. Born in 1940 to a family of woodcarvers in the USA, he began his career working as a carpenter and construction worker. He was drawn into alternative theatre and creative writing, particularly poetry, by the Civil Rights Movement in the USA, 1963. Besides countless solo exhibits, he has also taken part in numerous international exhibitions, such as dOCUMENTA (1992, 2012, 2022), Whitney Biennial (1993, 2003, 2014), the Venice Biennial (1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2013, 2019) the Istanbul Biennial (1997, 2013) and many other shows. Jimmie was awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 58th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale.

Jimmies latest exhibition in partnership with Maria Thereza Alves, entitled ‘Labinac’ is currently being presented at the Michel Rein Gallery in Paris.

Born in Brazil in 1961, Thereza Alvez is a multidisciplinary artist, writer, activist and designer. She has participated in Manifesta 12 and 7, 32nd and 29th São Paulo Biennale, the Sharjah Biennale and in dOCUMENTA (13) among others. She has had a solo exhibit at MUAC in Mexico City and a survey exhibit at CAAC in Seville. Alves participated at the Toronto Biennale in 2019 and the Sydney Biennale in 2020. She is recipient of the Vera List Prize for Art and Politics 2016-2018 from the new School in New York. Her book, « Recipes for Survival » has been published by the University of Texas Press.

The exhibition is a gathering of works made for Labinac, that have been previously exhibited in Milan, in Venice during the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale, and in Berlin. The works are designed to be in a state of constant evolution, and are a careful consideration of the lives and relationship between materials. Taking into account the new life that will be given to pieces by new owners, in the uses that will be attributed to it, and in the spaces in which it will be installed, as equally as the consideration of the life of the materials before their unison in creation.

Labinac initiates as a collective design process. As great friends of, and integral to the Michel Rein gallery, (Jimmie and Maria have been represented by the gallery for over 20 years) the pair are at the heart of it’s creation and it was important to both Jimmie and Maria, and the gallery, that other artists will participate with the works and make their own contributions to enrich the label in the future.

LABINAC: a collective design started by Maria Thereza Alves & Jimmie Durham, in exhibit until 8th January 2022 et the Michel Rein Gallery, Paris, 42 rue de Turenne, 75003.