Pompidou - rue de Crimée 20.11.69

In 1949, Jacques Villeglé interrupted his architectural studies in Nantes to go to Paris. He wandered the streets and stripped off pieces of the city’s many layers of torn advertising posters. These ripped fragments are not traces of artistic expression but of people’s attempts to remove something – signs of aggression or playfulness. The title of the work indicates where and when it was made. Villeglé’s sharp excerpts from specific times and places are like a slice of contemporary history. What remains is an image created by coincidence but chosen by the artist’s eye. The selection Villeglé makes reflect his interest in the history, social conditions and culture of the place, often full of associations, allusions and play on words.