Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld: Merci Mercy

Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld and Gilbert & George, "Lover" (2011)

I so admire the decisions that Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld has made as he grows his art dealership, most recently partnering with Christine Messineo, director of the Bortolami Gallery in New York, to curate a show uniting 35 artists entitled Merci Mercy. Taking its name from a work by Louise Bourgeois, Vladimir's latest ambitious project aims to examine language and text in contemporary works of art by Darren Almond, Dirk Bell, Mark Bradford, Mel Bochner, Louise Bourgeois, Sophie Calle, Pier Paolo Calzolari, Peter Davies, Sam Durant, Tracey Emin, Nikolas Gambaroff, Gilbert & George, Robert Gober, Nan Goldin, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Jenny Holzer, Rashid Johnson, Scott King, Christopher Knowles, Michael Krebber, Sean Landers, Jason Loebs, Charles Mayton, Harland Miller, Philippe Parreno, Jack Pierson, Ry Rocklen, Ed Ruscha, Tom Sachs, Ben Schumacher, Gary Simmons, Lucien Smith, Dash Snow, Kon Trubkovich, and Aaron Young. Vladimir explains how the idea for the show germinated: “I was looking for a new concept to develop and discovered that many of the artists I like use text in a systematic way. It was a good opportunity to bridge the artists I love with those I’m less familiar with and contextualize them in a way that made sense.” Merci Mercy is open to the public through 17 February at 980 Madison Avenue.

Louise Bourgeois, "Merci, Mercy" (1999)

Aaron Young, "Untitled (breaking the law)" (2008)

Lucien Smith, "Untitled (Tumbleweed)" (2013)

Jack Pierson, “Abstract # 10” (2008)

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Merci Mercy exhibit images courtesy of Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld, galleristny.com, musemagazine.it, twitter.com