Back

Maude Léonard-Contant and Marta Margnetti at Mayday

Duo Show «Knuckles Down», September 19 until October 31, 2021

Artists

Marta Margnetti, Maude Léonard-Contant

Institution

Mayday

Location

Basel

Download

Press release (PDF)

Website

maydaymaydaymayday.ch

Exhibition View Maude Léonard-Contant und Martha Margnetti Duo Show «Knuckles Down» at Mayday, Basel, 2021 / Photo: Moritz Schermbach / Courtesy: the artists and Mayday

Exhibition Description:

The exhibition "Knuckles Down" brings Maude Léonard-Contant and Marta Margnetti together in a dialogue. The title of the duo show refers to the starting position in marbles, ready to shoot the first marble towards the goal. The game served as both motif and method for the development of new works specifically designed for the exhibition space. An exchange on the memory function of objects and materials, evoking sensations and childhood memories, as well as their physical inscription, thematically accompanied the two artists. The resulting works bring together seemingly functional and decorative elements, technoide and organic qualities, animalistic and anthropomorphic aspects. Steel hand silhouettes with blue oxidized fingers hug the handrail, wrapped in ceramic beads strung on horsehair resembling blueberries. The marbles from an incineration plant seem to have rolled against the wall during play and been forgotten. Upon closer inspection, they have lost their luster from the heat, cracked, and broken. Léonard-Contant's two-part sculpture "Soapboxing" stands on a pedestal with a net-like cover. Margnetti's shopping nets soaked in charcoal and beeswax appear as frozen, leached bodies, their permeable cavities hinting at mere placeholders of an inner life. Objects such as vessels, containers, shells, pedestals, bodies, and prostheses speak of presence and absence, loss of function, or failed attempts, bridging linguistic and pre-linguistic realms. They bear traces of transformation through fire and water, wear and refinement, acquiring new auratic qualities.

Artists' Background:

Maude Léonard-Contant, born in 1979 in Joliette, Canada, currently lives and works in Basel. She completed her art studies at various institutions and has exhibited her work in several venues, including Kunsthaus Baselland and Herrmann Germann Contemporary. Marta Margnetti, born in 1989 in Mendrisio, resides and works in Lugano. She has received awards and recognition for her work, including the Tessiner Manor Kunstpreis in 2020. Margnetti has participated in group exhibitions at institutions such as Kunsthaus Baselland and Aargauer Kunsthaus. She is currently undertaking a studio residency at Instituto Svizzero in Rome.

sponsors

Exhibition View Maude Léonard-Contant und Martha Margnetti Duo Show «Knuckles Down; view on Marta Margnetti, Una stella sulla punta della lingua, 2021» at Mayday, Basel, 2021 / Exhibition View Maude Léonard-Contant und Martha Margnetti Duo Show «Knuckles Down» at Mayday, Basel, 2021 / Photo: Moritz Schermbach / Courtesy: the artists and Mayday

Exhibition View Maude Léonard-Contant und Martha Margnetti Duo Show «Knuckles Down; view on Maude Léonard-Contant, Une par une, 2021» at Mayday, Basel, 2021 / Photo: Moritz Schermbach / Courtesy: the artists and Mayday

Exhibition View Maude Léonard-Contant und Martha Margnetti Duo Show «Knuckles Down» at Mayday, Basel, 2021 / Photo: Moritz Schermbach / Courtesy: the artists and Mayday

Exhibition View Maude Léonard-Contant und Martha Margnetti Duo Show «Knuckles Down; view on Maude Léonard-Contant, Soapboxing, 2021» at Mayday, Basel, 2021 / Photo: Moritz Schermbach / Courtesy: the artists and Mayday

Exhibition View Maude Léonard-Contant und Martha Margnetti Duo Show «Knuckles Down; view on Maude Léonard-Contant, Untitled, 2021» at Mayday, Basel, 2021 / Photo: Moritz Schermbach / Courtesy: the artists and Mayday

Exhibition View Maude Léonard-Contant und Martha Margnetti Duo Show «Knuckles Down» at Mayday, Basel, 2021 / Photo: Moritz Schermbach / Courtesy: the artists and Mayday

Exhibition View Maude Léonard-Contant und Martha Margnetti Duo Show «Knuckles Down; view on Marta Margnetti, Promessa a quattro zamp, 2021» at Mayday, Basel, 2021 / Photo: Moritz Schermbach / Courtesy: the artists and Mayday

Exhibition View Maude Léonard-Contant und Martha Margnetti Duo Show «Knuckles Down; view on Marta Margnetti, Blumenkrone, 2021» at Mayday, Basel, 2021 / Photo: Moritz Schermbach / Courtesy: the artists and Mayday

Exhibition View Maude Léonard-Contant und Martha Margnetti Duo Show «Knuckles Down» at Mayday, Basel, 2021 / Photo: Moritz Schermbach / Courtesy: the artists and Mayday

Exhibition View Maude Léonard-Contant und Martha Margnetti Duo Show «Knuckles Down; view on Marta Margnetti, Nodo, 2021» at Mayday, Basel, 2021 / Photo: Moritz Schermbach / Courtesy: the artists and Mayday

Exhibition View Maude Léonard-Contant und Martha Margnetti Duo Show «Knuckles Down» at Mayday, Basel, 2021 / Photo: Moritz Schermbach / Courtesy: the artists and Mayday

Exhibition View Maude Léonard-Contant und Martha Margnetti Duo Show «Knuckles Down; view on Marta Margnetti, Contrarre, cadavere, rimedio, drenare, 2021» at Mayday, Basel, 2021 / Photo: Moritz Schermbach / Courtesy: the artists and Mayday

Exhibition View Maude Léonard-Contant und Martha Margnetti Duo Show «Knuckles Down; view on Marta Margnetti, Bucètt, 2021» at Mayday, Basel, 2021 / Photo: Moritz Schermbach / Courtesy: the artists and Mayday

Exhibition View Maude Léonard-Contant und Martha Margnetti Duo Show «Knuckles Down; view on Maude Léonard-Contant, Cum Grano Salis, 2021» at Mayday, Basel, 2021 / Photo: Moritz Schermbach / Courtesy: the artists and Mayday

Exhibition View Maude Léonard-Contant und Martha Margnetti Duo Show «Knuckles Down» at Mayday, Basel, 2021 / Photo: Moritz Schermbach / Courtesy: the artists and Mayday