Side Gallery

Côme Clérino (1990, Paris) lives in Paris and works in Pantin, France. He graduated from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris in 2016. He developed a multidisciplinary practice, challenging the academic definition of painting and combining photography, drawing, sculpture, ceramics, textiles, and installation. In 2017, he presented his first solo exhibition, "Voir au verso", at Les Gens Heureux gallery in Copenhagen. In 2018, after a new solo exhibition, "Emulsilfy(ing)", at the Castellana 22 gallery in Madrid, he was nominated for the International Painting Prize of Vitry-sur-Seine.

In 2019, he presented his first solo show in France, "Et si on passait les meubles par la fenêtre?", at the Double V Gallery in Marseille, in the spring, as well as his first solo show in Paris, "Que Devons Nous Y Faire", at Galerie Chloe Salgado, Paris in the autumn. In 2020, Clérino notably participated in the 69th edition of Jeune Création at the Fiminco Foundation, in Recyclage/Surcyclage, at the Villa Datris Foundation, and in Wearables, at Etage Projects, Copenhagen. He founded and curated "Dix-sept murs et une fenêtre", the first online show of On / Off Gallery, a digital artist-run space.

Romain Coppin and Alexis Bondoux are two freelance designers, who regularly work together under the name of Messgewand (which is german for “chasuble” a word which, in French, not only means a priestly vestment but also a colorful sporty tank top). Messgewand is a collaborative practice based between Lyon (FR) and Amsterdam (NL). The two designers met eleven years ago, while studying at applied-arts school in Nevers (FR), where they bonded over a shared skepticism regarding the product driven nature of their design education. After seven years of training in product/object design, they now use this discipline as a medium to question its aesthetic conventions and defne their own plastic language.

They explore the concept of mental furniture, midway between functional sculpture and nonfunctional design. To do so they are experimenting with collage and domestic familiarity of sculpture. Through those mediums, they express their interest for the use of art pieces as objects and designed objects as art pieces. This position especially make them answering to professional assignments as much as self-initiated projects with a critical approach toward modes of production and representation. They disrupt the seriality of production by creating a mash-up of low design and craft interventions. 

Their experimentations are visualized using object, furniture, sculpture, image and drawing. By doing so, they try to challenge the contemporary visual codes and rules of the object design feld. Each project is an opportunity to experiment and precise their personal design langage. All of them put together are determining a large research area positioned in a narrow gap between art and design. They see themselves as designers/researchers that have a fascination for aesthetic ambiguity, which is something that they use as a tool to create aesthetic contrasts within their objects, and try to keep their work constantly in between. Always oscillating between sacred and cheap for instance, which is helping them to mix mass culture and avant-garde. Being ambiguous it’s also the way they choose to approach as closely as possible a new discipline related to object/furniture, and to the crossroads of many others.

They use their design background to hack the usual product design process of creating and making such as thinking - sketching - drawing - modeling - making. They see each step of it as a potential fnal proposal instead of having them linked in a global and closed production loop. For Messgewand, it is really more fulflling to experiment all these mediums independently from each other by keeping them in an open relation, where they all have the same hierarchy regarding the notion of fnality. One of their challenges is to display the results of their experimentations in some stages which are not the usual ones. They want their artworks to be “about” design more than being design themselves. Challenging the conventional process enables them to build abstract representations of functional design, based on a maximal and excessive ornamentation.

The intuitive and raw collage is the main part of their practice. Connected to an empirical production process, it became their favourite and most powerful way to produce their pieces so far. It really fts their desires of over materiality and obsessive decoration. It allows them to mix mediums, popular aesthetics and domestic codes. Their work is actually a collage of effects (texture, colors, decoration, accessories) combined with poor material, semi-object and leftovers that they enhance by layering, covering, composition and ornementation. Thanks to that re-reading of found material, they are able to create busy objects made of contrasts and ambiguity between trash aesthetics and plastic radicality.Romain Coppin and Alexis Bondoux are two freelance designers who regularly work together under the name of Messgewand (which is german for "chasuble," a word which, in French, means not only a priestly garment but also a colorful sporty tank top). Messgewand is a collaborative practice based between Lyon (FR) and Amsterdam (NL). The two designers met eleven years ago while studying at the applied-arts school in Nevers (FR). They bonded over a shared skepticism regarding their design education's product-driven nature. After seven years of training in product/object design, they now use this discipline as a medium to question its aesthetic conventions and define their plastic language.

They explore the concept of mental furniture, midway between functional sculpture and nonfunctional design. To do so, they experiment with collage and domestic familiarity of sculpture. Through those mediums, they express their interest in using art pieces as objects and designed objects as art pieces. This position especially makes them answer professional assignments as much as self-initiated projects with a critical approach toward modes of production and representation. They disrupt the seriality of production by creating a mash-up of low design and craft interventions. 

Their experimentations are visualized by using objects, furniture, sculpture, image, and drawing. They try to challenge the contemporary visual codes and rules of the object design field. Each project is an opportunity to experiment and precise their design language. They all put together to determine a significant research area in a narrow gap between art and design. They see themselves as designers/researchers who have a fascination for aesthetic ambiguity. They use this to create aesthetic contrasts within their objects and try to keep their work constantly in motion. For instance, they oscillate between sacred and cheap, which helps them mix mass culture and avant-garde. Being ambiguous, it's also the way they choose to approach as closely as possible a new discipline related to object/furniture and the crossroads of many others.

They use their design background to hack the usual process of creating and making, such as thinking, sketching, drawing, and modeling-making. They see each step of the process as a potential final proposal instead of having them linked in a closed production loop. For Messgewand, it is more fulfilling to experiment with all these mediums independently by keeping them in an open relationship. One of the challenges that they face is displaying their experimentations in unusual stages. They want their artworks to be "about" design rather than being design pieces themselves. Challenging the conventional process enables them to build abstract representations of functional design based on maximal and excessive ornamentation.

They work intuitively and are connected to an empirical production process. This became their favored and most powerful way to produce their pieces so far. It fits their desires of over-materiality and obsessive decoration. It allows them to mix mediums, popular aesthetics, and domestic codes. Their work is a collage of effects (texture, colors, decoration, accessories) combined with poor material, semi-object, and leftovers that they enhance by layering, covering, composition and ornamentation. Thanks to that re-reading of found material, they can create busy objects of contrast and ambiguity between trash aesthetics and plastic radicality.