JULES DE BALINCOURT | VICTORIA MIRO

Jules de Balincourt's studio, works in progress, February 2016. Photo: Lee Tyler Thompson.

Jules de Balincourt Stumbling Pioneers April 14–May 14, 2016 Private view: Thursday, April 14, 6–8pm Victoria Miro  16 Wharf Road London N1 7RW www.victoria-miro.com Victoria Miro is delighted to announce Stumbling Pioneers, the second solo exhibition at the gallery by Jules de Balincourt, which explores the frontier as a charged concept in contemporary culture. Painted on return to his hometown Los Angeles after a 20-year interval, these works road-trip through the mythic and geographically sprawling metropolis with an eye for man's uncertain relationship with his environment. Perched on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, Los Angeles has, since the pioneering age, been the limitless repository of America's dreams of the frontier, of desires that saturate the sunsets, freeways, canyons and swimming pools that de Balincourt paints. This landscape, a disjunctured synthesis of the human, the architectural, and the organic, seems to temper idealistic energies: rather than striding boldly into the unknown, the figure drifts aimlessly through sunlit pockets of space, leisurely waiting for some ultimate opportunity for freedom. Here, the promise of the frontier—the hope of progress and the better life it inspires—coexists with a muddled reality of blurred boundaries between man and nature in a landscape that seems comprehensively colonised. Poised between the strange and the familiar, the works that make up Stumbling Pioneers are rooted in the unmistakeable vibrant landscape of California, yet shaped by dreamlike associations that interconnect large-scale canvases and smaller works. Almost-transparent washes of paint build gradients of colour and form on these carefully constructed surfaces, on which the abstract remains visible amidst defined areas of representation. De Balincourt's work gestures towards the incalculable process of painting, which he has described as beginning with, "a very intuitive dance in the dark of brushes and pigments […] So in a way it is about this intersection in my mind when I abandon the more unknowing primitive approach, finding something that inspires or I need to pursue." De Balincourt's practice occupies a distinct emotional hyperspace, ranging with easy fluency across abstraction and figuration, collective imagination and singularised perception to make idiosyncratic connections within the landscape of contemporary westernised culture. Hard and fast dualities, whether psychological or sociopolitical, are suspended in this shifting space: together, his works invite us to journey across terrain in which it is no longer easy to distinguish between the utopian and the dystopian, the escape and the capture. Biographical details Jules de Balincourt, born in Paris in 1972, lives and works in Brooklyn, New York and Los Angeles. De Balincourt's work has been the subject of a number of international solo exhibitions at institutions including Kasseler Kunstverein (2015); The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas (2014–15); Rochechouart Museum of Contemporary Art (2014); Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (2013); Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2010) and Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery, Nashville (2008). His work has also been included in a number of significant group exhibitions, including L'Ange de l'Histoire, curated by Nicolas Bourriaud at le Palais des Beaux-Arts, Paris (2013); New York Minute, Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, Moscow (2011) and the 10th Havana Biennial, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (2009).

ALSERKAL AVENUE | DUBAI

Michelangelo Pistoletto, Two Less One Colored, 2015. Mirror, gilded wood, 180 x 120 cm each. Courtesy: Galleria Continua. Photo by: Duccio Benvenuto.

Art Week: gallery openings, pop-up projects and commissioned programme Alserkal Avenue Dubai UAE www.alserkalavenue.ae Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / #AlserkalAvenue The 2016 Art Week, March 14–19, will see a host of openings, commissions, projects and public programming take place at Alserkal Avenue. At the heart of the vibrant week, the galleries at Alserkal Avenue will present shows by Seher Shah, YZ Kami and Hassan Hajjaj and Stéphanie Saadé to name a few. The eagerly awaited openings of Custot Gallery, The Jean-Paul Najar Foundation and eL Seed Studio will bring further cultural dimensions to the Avenue, while Alserkal Avenue Programming will present commissions by Mary Ellen Carroll, Mohammed Kazem, Jessica Mein, Fari Bradley, Chris Weaver and Vikram Divecha alongside a selection of pop-up projects. Abdelmonem Bin Eisa Alserkal, Founder of Alserkal Avenue, comments, "Alserkal Avenue has evolved to become an important platform for genuine, grassroots cultural exchange not just for the Dubai arts community, but within the region at large. We want this cultural wealth to cement the importance of The Avenue as a home for visionaries and creative leaders, making it their window to the world, and, the world to Alserkal." New spaces  The Jean-Paul Najar Foundation in partnership with Alserkal Avenue gathers over 600 pieces of European and American post-minimalist works from the 1960s through the 1990s and will offer a full programme of exhibitions and public events. The inaugural exhibition, titled Jean-Paul Najar: Vision & Legacy, curated by Jessamyn Fiore in a newly designed space by Mario Jossa of Marcel Breuer & Associates, reflects on Najar's immense care and understanding of artists. The show presents masterpieces from the last half century, as well as letters and ephemera from several artists throughout the decades. Custot Gallery's opening show, The Word Meets Here, will present works from artists such as Jean Dubuffet, Peter Halley, Marc Quinn, Frank Stella and Fabienne Verdier. The selection will embody the two cornerstones of the gallery—contemporary fine art and large-scale sculpture. Bringing a new dimension to the community, renowned calligraffiti artist, eL Seed establishes his studio in Alserkal Avenue, making it the first artist's studio on the premises. eL Seed will use the multi-purpose space to work on new projects and showcase his art pieces. The studio will be open for visits upon request. Alserkal Avenue programming Alserkal Avenue programming is dedicated to incubating innovative ideas and creative projects that increase understanding and appreciation of communities and histories within the region. This year's commissioned artists have been invited to examine the built environment of the Avenue, break-down barriers and borders, reveal hidden spaces and view-points, highlight the incoherence of the neighbourhood, and challenge notions of permanence and place. Collaborations and pop-up projects Back by popular demand, RCA Secret Dubai—Dubai's edition of the Royal College of Art's anonymous art exhibition and sale—returns to Dubai this year. For the first time, in partnership with Art Dubai, the sale will take place across both key locations, Alserkal Avenue (March 14–19) and Art Dubai (March 17–19). The 2016 RCA Secret Dubai will feature 1,000 original post-card size artworks available for sale. Previous contributors include: Zaha Hadid, Paul Smith, Christopher Bailey, eL Seed and more. The Avenue's central Yard spaces will be host to an eclectic range of pop-up presentations including the region's first solo exhibition by Michelangelo Pistoletto in which Leila Heller Gallery invites Galleria Continua to organise, site-specific works by artist Zahra Al-Ghamdi and Issam Kourbaj, the Middle Eastern launch of Farhad Moshiri's new monograph and Art Barter, a playful take on the art collecting process. To register as a buyer please visit dubai.secret.rca.ac.uk. For full Art Week programme please visit: www.alserkalavenue.ae Non UAE press enquiries: Concetta Duncan, Sutton PR concetta@suttonpr.com / T +1 917 9714664 Press enquiries: Haniya Bhatty, Alserkal Avenue haniya@alserkalavenue.ae / T +971 558 7776 About Alserkal Avenue Alserkal Avenue is the region's foremost arts and culture neighbourhood located in Al Quoz, Dubai. Since it was established in 2007, Alserkal Avenue has become an essential platform for the development of artistic and cultural initiatives. It supports a vibrant community of contemporary art galleries and alternative art spaces, together with design, media and industrial studios. In 2015, Alserkal Avenue introduced its own programme dedicated to encouraging new ideas, open dialogue and a more diverse and rich eco-system for art in the region. In 2016, Alserkal Avenue will launch its project space as well as new art, design and creative concepts.