November 2023: bits and bobs 2 - Matter Gone Wild, Josèfa Ntjam at the Fondation Pernod Ricard

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Josèfa Ntjam is a young artist I first came across when helping with preparations for Alternating Currents, the inaugural exhibition at Parallel Circuit, in Tehran. Her name was in the list of artists whose work was to be included in the exhibition, and I found myself translating the text of one of her videos (as it happens, now showing at FRAC Ile de France's 40th birthday exhibition, Gunaikeion, in Romainville), so it could be subtitled for Iran, and taking a train to her current home town to pick up some works (cushions) for dispatch there.

Since then, I've looked out for her name and seen a few works at Poggi in Paris, and more at Toucher Terre, an exhibition of ceramic sculptures at the Espace Monte Cristo that I wrote about in July.

She now has a compact but striking installation at the Fondation Pernod Ricard, called Matter Gone Wild, and I went to see it one sodden day this month. There are two things I'd like to mention as relevant here.

First, something I often say when showing people round my flat is that the problem with buying works from young artists while you can still afford to is that they progress so quickly; soon you find yourself liking their new work as well if not even more, and aching to have some for yourself, but by then they've signed with a big gallery, and it's out of your range. All you can do is go on loving the early work you have and wish them well as they make their way.

Second, it's interesting to see how so many young artists have now (I almost wrote 'suddenly') learnt to think in terms of installation, no longer just the 'white cube' presentation of individual pieces. This is one of the things that struck me strongly at 100%, a young artists' exhibition at La Villette last spring that I went to more than once and should have written up, with pics, but didn't (and I don't remember why). It's also, incidentally, one of the skills Mamali Shafahi hopes Parallel Circuit in Tehran, which he art-directs, will help young Iranian artists develop.

Josèfa Ntjam's new installation is slick (in the most positive sense of the term) and professional, with an eye for detail (neion highlighting, specific wall colours, careful, focused lighting...). The installations, each distinct in feel, adapt to the spaces. The new video in the big, back room is more complex, more sophisticated and more finished than before, and the artists herself is notably stylishly costumes and made up, and has, according to the credits, used a choreographer. It shows. The video is projected in a custom installation, with a carpet, Josèfa's 'signature' cushions, a pop-art era inflatable armchair. She and her curator have put together a show that is compact and coherent. Very neatly done.










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