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{"id":173244,"date":"2011-01-01T19:50:00","date_gmt":"2011-01-02T00:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esse.ca\/lacte-de-collection-le-symptome-dune-angoisse\/"},"modified":"2024-02-21T15:47:10","modified_gmt":"2024-02-21T20:47:10","slug":"the-act-of-collecting-a-symptom-of-anxiety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.esse.ca\/en\/the-act-of-collecting-a-symptom-of-anxiety\/","title":{"rendered":"The Act of Collecting: A Symptom of Anxiety?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The image of the contemporary art collector is often associated with appearances<\/em> and with luxury, so it\u2019s no coincidence, then, that this clich\u00e9 drives the parodic work of Marc-Antoine K. Phaneuf (MAKP). On the other hand, the interest in pulling closer the existential malaise revealed by our relationship to objects\u2009\u2014\u2009that of always aspiring to be more<\/em>\u2009\u2014\u2009and the argument about the collector put forward by Jean Baudrillard in The System of Objects<\/em> doesn\u2019t lie in those qualities. For Baudrillard, the act of collecting and the activities inherent in it\u2009\u2014\u2009arranging, classifying, manipulating\u2009\u2014\u2009consist of a primary reflex developed by a child in order to master the world around it.^{1<\/sup><\/a><\/span>} 1 <\/a> - Jean Baudrillard, The System of Objects<\/em> (London: Verso, 1996), 87.<\/span> From the start, collected objects play a role in managing anxiety; they give the subject who accumulates them a feeling of mastery over his or her immediate environment while reassuring them of their identity. In fact, Benjamin sees the discourse of subjectivity exemplified in such objects, since through them the subject not only projects a specific image of him or herself, with which s\/he wishes to be associated (our objects act as a mirror for a desired image and not a real one),^{2<\/sup><\/a><\/span>} 2 <\/a> - Ibid., 89.<\/span> but these objects also allow the subject to place him or herself beyond time by conjuring the fear of death. One could go so far as to suppose that it is a feeling of lack, a feeling of not being enough<\/em> that drives one to collect. The activity thus produces a compensatory effect as it aims to make an individual\u2019s desire for accomplishment\u2009\u2014\u2009the supreme contemporary value if there ever was one\u2009\u2014\u2009tangible by piling up the material goods associated with the idea of social success. This is the reason Baudrillard identifies the passion for private property as the engine that drives the collector\u2019s act. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery object thus has two functions\u2009\u2014\u2009to be put to use and to be possessed,\u201d^{3<\/sup><\/a><\/span>} 3 <\/a> - Ibid., 86.<\/span> explains Baudrillard. He adds, \u201cthe pure object, devoid of any function or completely abstracted from its use, takes on a strictly subjective status: it becomes part of a collection.\u201d ^{4<\/sup><\/a><\/span>} 4 <\/a> - Ibid.<\/span> It is through subjective investment, then, that the object supports the individual, taking part in what he or she is. And Baudrillard stresses the fact that the object\u2019s degree of abstraction grows through its multiplication: in a collection the abstract value of a material possession can overtake its use value, thanks to the organized way in which the objects refer to one another. This is why one imagines a collection represents, in its quintessence, the logic lending an individual\u2019s objects and goods a role in the development of his or her personality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MAKP\u2019s process also seems to rest on such stakes. His Collection de troph\u00e9es<\/em> (2009) exhibited last autumn at the Leonard & Bina Ellen Gallery of Concordia University as part of the Off-Biennale de Montreal<\/em>, doubly evokes the symbolic role Baudrillard has the object play: first by the very nature of the displayed products\u2009\u2014\u2009trophies\u2009\u2014\u2009and then by their accumulation; these trophies form a collection. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marc-Antoine K. Phaneuf<\/strong>
Collection de troph\u00e9es<\/em>, Galerie Leonard & Bina Ellen, Montr\u00e9al, 2009.
Photo: Guy L\u2019Heureux<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Positioning itself in the genealogy of the ready-made, the work recalls the displays of major shops and department stores\u2009\u2014\u2009a universe familiar to the artist who, as a poet, amused himself with this image in his collection T\u00e9l\u00e9thons de la grande surface (inventaire cat\u00e9gorique)<\/em> (2008). For the \u00adexhibition, a full wall of the gallery was painted a bright cotton candy pink and covered with shelves on which sat nearly 160 trophies of every size that had been bought in lots, or found in flea markets. Only one of the trophies was actually won by the artist during a disputed hockey tournament in Saint-Hyacinthe in 1994, when he was just 13 years old. One might well imagine it is the founding element in a nonetheless heteroclite collection. Winking at contemporary art (Ren\u00e9 Payant, General Idea, \u00c8ve K. Tremblay) and at Quebec personalities, as much those we remember as those we might like to forget (Marie-Soleil Tougas, Valery Fabrikant, Vincent Lacroix, D\u00e9d\u00e9 Fortin et Vincent Lecavalier), the trophies direct our attention to some banal accomplishments that are nonetheless \u00adconsecrated by this object of distinction: \u201cDonnaconna Optimist Club. Joseph Provencher,\u201d \u201cStrong Man Meet 2007. 19th Benjamin Ruel,\u201d \u201cLimoilou Nordiques. Consolation Prize,\u201d \u201c20 years of Service.\u201d Of course, we surmise that some of the plaques have been modified to solicit a smile (\u201cChild King\u201d) or unease (\u201cRosemont White Sox. Best av. at bat: Marc L\u00e9pine\u201d), but in other cases the alteration is more difficult to detect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like works of art, the trophy has no use value: it is defined by its symbolic value, which is concretized in its appearance\u2009\u2014\u2009the richness of its materials, its shine. Its function is to manifest the success of its recipient. The artist Aleksandra Mir, whose works are also trophies, says this aesthetic arises from the tradition of silver chalices produced by the church in the Middle Ages.^{5<\/sup><\/a><\/span>} 5 <\/a> - Matthias Ulrich (interview with Aleksandra Mir), \u201cLetting go!,\u201d Aleksandra Mir. Triumph<\/em> (Frankfurt: Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, 2009), 54.<\/span> Objects connected to religion reflected the spiritual power of those wielding them. The Church is one of the institutions, along with, notably, royalty, to transform its objects into genuine incarnations of power; a power made visible by the great attention given to the ornamentation of those objects. Compared with them, the plastic trophies collected by Phaneuf with their gilding, columns of false marble and figurines posed as if shouting \u201cVictory!\u201d are more likely to make one laugh… a forced laugh. In fact, the artist\u2019s substitutes\u2009\u2014\u2009objects of pride (and power) for their previous owners\u2009\u2014\u2009are clearly an indication of just such a quest for recognition, this desire for immediate gratification in the midst of which an existential malaise appears. Ironically, the previous holders flattered their egos with mass-produced objects. This standardization is made more than visible in the collection exhibited at Concordia; there the figurines and models are repeated. Faced with a bargain basement display, we can\u2019t really know what to think; it throws us back, meanly, on our own desire for honour, our own need to arouse envy in others. An immense and embarrassing gap opens between the poor quality of these generic trophies and the sentiment of individual accomplishment they are supposed to represent. And what worse than that aggressive cotton candy pink to\u2009\u2014\u2009rather than help one forget the awkwardness\u2009\u2014\u2009make it more oppressive?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is difficult to discern Phaneuf\u2019s actual position in regard to his collection: to make us laugh, or to laugh at us? Since, if the trophy is clearly an object whose symbolic value comforts the one to have won it by reflecting a positive image of him, how can a collection of unmerited trophies provide the collector MAKP with a feeling of satisfaction? We can only suppose that in admiring these objects, brilliant with artificial lustre, the artist-dandy\u2009\u2014\u2009a label that fits Phaneuf perfectly\u2009\u2014\u2009tells himself that he is far beyond all that: that obsessive thirst for recognition that some quench in lusting after symbols of victory, and others by throwing themselves onto the dizzying ride of consumption and luxury. And still, the artist doesn\u2019t hesitate to connect\u2009\u2014\u2009like Baudrillard\u2009\u2014\u2009the pleasure of collecting with the passion for private property, going as far as finding in the figure of the artist-collector that of the artist-consumer.^{6<\/sup><\/a><\/span>} 6 <\/a> - Interview with the artist, October 5, 2010.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
The artist-collector, the artist-consumer, but also the artist-dandy having made of his daily life \u201ca formal apparatus,\u201d considers appearance<\/em> rather than *being<\/em> as the one tangible reality.*^{7<\/sup><\/a><\/span>} 7 <\/a> - Nicolas Bourriaud, Formes de vie. L\u2019art moderne et l\u2019invention de soi<\/em> (Paris: Deno\u00ebl, 2003), 37-44.<\/span> Nicolas Bourriaud speaks of the dandy as one who evokes \u201caffectation, contempt of class, the fashion plate, emptiness\u201d and \u201can ascetic dimension\u201d and \u201cself-\u00adfashioning\u201d \u00adequally.^{8<\/sup><\/a><\/span>} 8 <\/a> - Ibid., 45.<\/span> These are the two levels on which MAKP seems to play. He doesn\u2019t hesitate to construct himself, modifying even the name by which he is designated (by adding the initial \u201cK\u201d which is not filial), all the while scrupulously watching the effect he produces in public, wearing a suit, tie, brightly coloured shirt and mock croc shoes like a second skin. His image, the figure of \u201cthe artist\u201d he has built, is the horizon against which his work (literary, artistic) takes on sense\u2009\u2014\u2009a logic that inverts that of the collector, who tends to leave the function of constructing his sought-after image to his possessions. Meaning is always ambiguous with MAKP, it raises doubt in the viewer or reader. It is because the artist mixes the worlds of popular and elite culture in his work that its ideal receiver is difficult to determine. One doesn\u2019t ever know whether or not he is making a judgment about the people and situations he references. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n
$\"\"$
02.7 L’\u0153il_paresseux, 2008<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
02.3 Pour_tout_ma_vie_(d\u00e9tail), 2001<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
02.12 Zouaves, 2005<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
02.9 Super_base_Yamaha, 2004<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
02.6 Post-it, 2007<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
02.8 Meubles_\u00e0_vendre, 2004<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
02.4 L’accent_est_l’\u00e2me_du_discours, 2007<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
02.5 Jean_fait_le_m\u00e9nage, 2003<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
02.13 Homme_boost\u00e9, 2004<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
02.11 Gribouillis_I, 2007<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
02.10 Bois_de_po\u00eale_de_chauffage, 2003<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Marc-Antoine K. Phaneuf<\/strong>
Les petites annonces \u2013 Objets po\u00e9tiques et design vernaculaire<\/em>, 2001-2009.
Photos: Marc-Antoine K. Phaneuf<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Two other works presented as collections generate the same equivocal feeling: Les petites annonces \u2013 Objets po\u00e9tiques et vernaculaires<\/em> and, in the literary field, the collection T\u00e9l\u00e9thons de la grande surface<\/em>, both of which the artist connects to the aesthetic of the ready-made. Les petites annonces<\/em> was presented for the first time at the Centre Clark in 2009. The work is made up of three bulletin boards covered with real, pinned-up ads recuperated by the artist for their \u201csyntactical breakdowns, spelling errors or their \u2018simply pathetic\u2019 presentation.\u201d^{9<\/sup><\/a><\/span>} 9 <\/a> - Exhibition text: http:\/\/www.clarkplaza.org\/.<\/span> Faced with each piece of paper, the viewer-reader imagines a portrait of its author: sometimes smiling, sometimes feeling pity for those reduced to expressing themselves in this way. As to the poetry collection, published in 2008 by Les \u00e9ditions Le Quartanier, it is formed of numerous lists in which a subjective linking of ideas blurs popular culture, elite culture and daily life to lay out the deliquescent corners of the artist\u2019s black humour. For MAKP, the words compiled under thematic titles\u2009\u2014\u2009\u201cList of Famous Couples,\u201d \u201cList of People Living in HoMa,\u201d \u201cList of Dead Sports Teams,\u201d \u201cList of Seminal Works of Contemporary Art,\u201d etc.\u2009\u2014\u2009are ready-mades. In fact, references, citations, names or titles of works are \u201cliterary objects\u201d that already exist, the meaning of which the author alters and inserts into a new context, that of the list, forcing unexpected relationships. In these works it is the capacity of collected objects to act as creators of fictions ^{10<\/sup><\/a><\/span>} 10 <\/a> - Interview with the artist, October 5, 2010.<\/span> that fascinates the artist, a posture well outlined by Henri Cueco in *Le collectionneur de collections<\/em> when he wrote \u201cthe pretext for storytelling is one of the pleasures of the collector.\u201d*^{11<\/sup><\/a><\/span>} 11 <\/a> - Henri Cueco, Le collectionneur de collections<\/em> (Paris: Seuil, 1995), 45.<\/span> And if we succeed in understanding certain allusions in these literary collections, several others escape us\u2009\u2014\u2009a characteristic that makes of the lists real collections in the sense Baudrillard understands, which is to say subjective systems definitively returning to the subject, the collector. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thus, Marc-Antoine K. Phaneuf\u2019s Collection de troph\u00e9es<\/em>, Les petites annonces<\/em> and T\u00e9l\u00e9thons de la grande surface<\/em> clearly speak to us of the current obsession that makes appearances our main preoccupation. An obsession deriving from the process of self-fashioning, or the type of relationship we maintain with our objects (material and literary) and, especially, from the symbolic value we lend them; all are called on to play an important role. Moreover, MAKP doesn\u2019t hesitate to deride this process, as he derides the status of the Artist, the Collector and the Dandy\u2009\u2014\u2009those upper-case titles (myths?) that are always, definitively, illusions or mirages to feed and torment all those who dream of greatness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
*[Translated from the French by Peter Dub\u00e9]<\/p>\n\n\n*
Anne-Marie St-Jean Aubre, Marc-Antoine K. Phaneuf<\/div>
Anne-Marie St-Jean Aubre, Marc-Antoine K. Phaneuf<\/div>
Anne-Marie St-Jean Aubre, Marc-Antoine K. Phaneuf<\/div>
Anne-Marie St-Jean Aubre, Marc-Antoine K. Phaneuf<\/div>
Anne-Marie St-Jean Aubre, Marc-Antoine K. Phaneuf<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1303,"featured_media":172779,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281,882],"tags":[],"numeros":[3680],"disciplines":[],"statuts":[335],"checklist":[],"auteurs":[1058],"artistes":[1720],"thematiques":[],"type_post":[319],"class_list":["post-173244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive","category-post","numeros-71-inventories","statuts-archive","auteurs-anne-marie-st-jean-aubre-en","artistes-marc-antoine-k-phaneuf-en","type_post-principal"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173244"},{"taxonomy":"numeros","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/numeros?post=173244"},{"taxonomy":"disciplines","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/disciplines?post=173244"},{"taxonomy":"statuts","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/statuts?post=173244"},{"taxonomy":"checklist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/checklist?post=173244"},{"taxonomy":"auteurs","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/auteurs?post=173244"},{"taxonomy":"artistes","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artistes?post=173244"},{"taxonomy":"thematiques","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/thematiques?post=173244"},{"taxonomy":"type_post","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.esse.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/type_post?post=173244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

Marc-Antoine K. Phaneuf<\/strong>
Collection de troph\u00e9es<\/em>, Galerie Leonard & Bina Ellen, Montr\u00e9al, 2009.
Photo: Guy L\u2019Heureux<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Positioning itself in the genealogy of the ready-made, the work recalls the displays of major shops and department stores\u2009\u2014\u2009a universe familiar to the artist who, as a poet, amused himself with this image in his collection T\u00e9l\u00e9thons de la grande surface (inventaire cat\u00e9gorique)<\/em> (2008). For the \u00adexhibition, a full wall of the gallery was painted a bright cotton candy pink and covered with shelves on which sat nearly 160 trophies of every size that had been bought in lots, or found in flea markets. Only one of the trophies was actually won by the artist during a disputed hockey tournament in Saint-Hyacinthe in 1994, when he was just 13 years old. One might well imagine it is the founding element in a nonetheless heteroclite collection. Winking at contemporary art (Ren\u00e9 Payant, General Idea, \u00c8ve K. Tremblay) and at Quebec personalities, as much those we remember as those we might like to forget (Marie-Soleil Tougas, Valery Fabrikant, Vincent Lacroix, D\u00e9d\u00e9 Fortin et Vincent Lecavalier), the trophies direct our attention to some banal accomplishments that are nonetheless \u00adconsecrated by this object of distinction: \u201cDonnaconna Optimist Club. Joseph Provencher,\u201d \u201cStrong Man Meet 2007. 19th Benjamin Ruel,\u201d \u201cLimoilou Nordiques. Consolation Prize,\u201d \u201c20 years of Service.\u201d Of course, we surmise that some of the plaques have been modified to solicit a smile (\u201cChild King\u201d) or unease (\u201cRosemont White Sox. Best av. at bat: Marc L\u00e9pine\u201d), but in other cases the alteration is more difficult to detect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like works of art, the trophy has no use value: it is defined by its symbolic value, which is concretized in its appearance\u2009\u2014\u2009the richness of its materials, its shine. Its function is to manifest the success of its recipient. The artist Aleksandra Mir, whose works are also trophies, says this aesthetic arises from the tradition of silver chalices produced by the church in the Middle Ages.^{5<\/sup><\/a><\/span>} 5 <\/a> - Matthias Ulrich (interview with Aleksandra Mir), \u201cLetting go!,\u201d Aleksandra Mir. Triumph<\/em> (Frankfurt: Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, 2009), 54.<\/span> Objects connected to religion reflected the spiritual power of those wielding them. The Church is one of the institutions, along with, notably, royalty, to transform its objects into genuine incarnations of power; a power made visible by the great attention given to the ornamentation of those objects. Compared with them, the plastic trophies collected by Phaneuf with their gilding, columns of false marble and figurines posed as if shouting \u201cVictory!\u201d are more likely to make one laugh… a forced laugh. In fact, the artist\u2019s substitutes\u2009\u2014\u2009objects of pride (and power) for their previous owners\u2009\u2014\u2009are clearly an indication of just such a quest for recognition, this desire for immediate gratification in the midst of which an existential malaise appears. Ironically, the previous holders flattered their egos with mass-produced objects. This standardization is made more than visible in the collection exhibited at Concordia; there the figurines and models are repeated. Faced with a bargain basement display, we can\u2019t really know what to think; it throws us back, meanly, on our own desire for honour, our own need to arouse envy in others. An immense and embarrassing gap opens between the poor quality of these generic trophies and the sentiment of individual accomplishment they are supposed to represent. And what worse than that aggressive cotton candy pink to\u2009\u2014\u2009rather than help one forget the awkwardness\u2009\u2014\u2009make it more oppressive?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is difficult to discern Phaneuf\u2019s actual position in regard to his collection: to make us laugh, or to laugh at us? Since, if the trophy is clearly an object whose symbolic value comforts the one to have won it by reflecting a positive image of him, how can a collection of unmerited trophies provide the collector MAKP with a feeling of satisfaction? We can only suppose that in admiring these objects, brilliant with artificial lustre, the artist-dandy\u2009\u2014\u2009a label that fits Phaneuf perfectly\u2009\u2014\u2009tells himself that he is far beyond all that: that obsessive thirst for recognition that some quench in lusting after symbols of victory, and others by throwing themselves onto the dizzying ride of consumption and luxury. And still, the artist doesn\u2019t hesitate to connect\u2009\u2014\u2009like Baudrillard\u2009\u2014\u2009the pleasure of collecting with the passion for private property, going as far as finding in the figure of the artist-collector that of the artist-consumer.^{6<\/sup><\/a><\/span>} 6 <\/a> - Interview with the artist, October 5, 2010.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
The artist-collector, the artist-consumer, but also the artist-dandy having made of his daily life \u201ca formal apparatus,\u201d considers appearance<\/em> rather than *being<\/em> as the one tangible reality.*^{7<\/sup><\/a><\/span>} 7 <\/a> - Nicolas Bourriaud, Formes de vie. L\u2019art moderne et l\u2019invention de soi<\/em> (Paris: Deno\u00ebl, 2003), 37-44.<\/span> Nicolas Bourriaud speaks of the dandy as one who evokes \u201caffectation, contempt of class, the fashion plate, emptiness\u201d and \u201can ascetic dimension\u201d and \u201cself-\u00adfashioning\u201d \u00adequally.^{8<\/sup><\/a><\/span>} 8 <\/a> - Ibid., 45.<\/span> These are the two levels on which MAKP seems to play. He doesn\u2019t hesitate to construct himself, modifying even the name by which he is designated (by adding the initial \u201cK\u201d which is not filial), all the while scrupulously watching the effect he produces in public, wearing a suit, tie, brightly coloured shirt and mock croc shoes like a second skin. His image, the figure of \u201cthe artist\u201d he has built, is the horizon against which his work (literary, artistic) takes on sense\u2009\u2014\u2009a logic that inverts that of the collector, who tends to leave the function of constructing his sought-after image to his possessions. Meaning is always ambiguous with MAKP, it raises doubt in the viewer or reader. It is because the artist mixes the worlds of popular and elite culture in his work that its ideal receiver is difficult to determine. One doesn\u2019t ever know whether or not he is making a judgment about the people and situations he references. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n
$\"\"$
02.7 L’\u0153il_paresseux, 2008<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
02.3 Pour_tout_ma_vie_(d\u00e9tail), 2001<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
02.12 Zouaves, 2005<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
02.9 Super_base_Yamaha, 2004<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
02.6 Post-it, 2007<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
02.8 Meubles_\u00e0_vendre, 2004<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
02.4 L’accent_est_l’\u00e2me_du_discours, 2007<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
02.5 Jean_fait_le_m\u00e9nage, 2003<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
02.13 Homme_boost\u00e9, 2004<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
02.11 Gribouillis_I, 2007<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
02.10 Bois_de_po\u00eale_de_chauffage, 2003<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Marc-Antoine K. Phaneuf<\/strong>
Les petites annonces \u2013 Objets po\u00e9tiques et design vernaculaire<\/em>, 2001-2009.
Photos: Marc-Antoine K. Phaneuf<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Two other works presented as collections generate the same equivocal feeling: Les petites annonces \u2013 Objets po\u00e9tiques et vernaculaires<\/em> and, in the literary field, the collection T\u00e9l\u00e9thons de la grande surface<\/em>, both of which the artist connects to the aesthetic of the ready-made. Les petites annonces<\/em> was presented for the first time at the Centre Clark in 2009. The work is made up of three bulletin boards covered with real, pinned-up ads recuperated by the artist for their \u201csyntactical breakdowns, spelling errors or their \u2018simply pathetic\u2019 presentation.\u201d^{9<\/sup><\/a><\/span>} 9 <\/a> - Exhibition text: http:\/\/www.clarkplaza.org\/.<\/span> Faced with each piece of paper, the viewer-reader imagines a portrait of its author: sometimes smiling, sometimes feeling pity for those reduced to expressing themselves in this way. As to the poetry collection, published in 2008 by Les \u00e9ditions Le Quartanier, it is formed of numerous lists in which a subjective linking of ideas blurs popular culture, elite culture and daily life to lay out the deliquescent corners of the artist\u2019s black humour. For MAKP, the words compiled under thematic titles\u2009\u2014\u2009\u201cList of Famous Couples,\u201d \u201cList of People Living in HoMa,\u201d \u201cList of Dead Sports Teams,\u201d \u201cList of Seminal Works of Contemporary Art,\u201d etc.\u2009\u2014\u2009are ready-mades. In fact, references, citations, names or titles of works are \u201cliterary objects\u201d that already exist, the meaning of which the author alters and inserts into a new context, that of the list, forcing unexpected relationships. In these works it is the capacity of collected objects to act as creators of fictions ^{10<\/sup><\/a><\/span>} 10 <\/a> - Interview with the artist, October 5, 2010.<\/span> that fascinates the artist, a posture well outlined by Henri Cueco in *Le collectionneur de collections<\/em> when he wrote \u201cthe pretext for storytelling is one of the pleasures of the collector.\u201d*^{11<\/sup><\/a><\/span>} 11 <\/a> - Henri Cueco, Le collectionneur de collections<\/em> (Paris: Seuil, 1995), 45.<\/span> And if we succeed in understanding certain allusions in these literary collections, several others escape us\u2009\u2014\u2009a characteristic that makes of the lists real collections in the sense Baudrillard understands, which is to say subjective systems definitively returning to the subject, the collector. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thus, Marc-Antoine K. Phaneuf\u2019s Collection de troph\u00e9es<\/em>, Les petites annonces<\/em> and T\u00e9l\u00e9thons de la grande surface<\/em> clearly speak to us of the current obsession that makes appearances our main preoccupation. An obsession deriving from the process of self-fashioning, or the type of relationship we maintain with our objects (material and literary) and, especially, from the symbolic value we lend them; all are called on to play an important role. Moreover, MAKP doesn\u2019t hesitate to deride this process, as he derides the status of the Artist, the Collector and the Dandy\u2009\u2014\u2009those upper-case titles (myths?) that are always, definitively, illusions or mirages to feed and torment all those who dream of greatness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
*[Translated from the French by Peter Dub\u00e9]<\/p>\n\n\n*
Anne-Marie St-Jean Aubre, Marc-Antoine K. Phaneuf<\/div>
Anne-Marie St-Jean Aubre, Marc-Antoine K. Phaneuf<\/div>
Anne-Marie St-Jean Aubre, Marc-Antoine K. Phaneuf<\/div>
Anne-Marie St-Jean Aubre, Marc-Antoine K. Phaneuf<\/div>
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