When I, an art history student, had the great fortune to work for the Galerie Hermeyer at Art Basel at the end of the 1980s, Jean-Charles Blais was one of the stars of the fair with his large poster fragments: at Yvon Lambert and Buchmann his enigmatic, scarred pictures, always testifying to inventiveness and a joy of discovery, were on display. When the art market, already beginning then with its rage for novelty and its centrifugal forces, demanded clear recognizability, and Jean-Charles Blais refused to follow this trend, things grew quieter around the artist, who unswervingly continued on his creative path. In the meantime, his artistic standing has been clearly underlined by exhibitions at the Fondation Lambert and at the Picasso Museum in Antibes.
Recognizability, stylistics … what exactly is that supposed to be? The exhibition at Odeonsplatz asks precisely this question and embarks on a journey from the beginnings in the 1980s to the work that has just been completed. My great thanks go to Jean-Charles Blais for allowing me to go on such an unhindered voyage of discovery through the artist's holdings.