Shanghai: Gérard Rancinan, A Small Man in a Big World

September and October were a success for Gérard Rancinan, who had three exhibitions in Shanghai: The Trilogy of the Moderns, A Small Man in a Big world, at the Shanghai Himalayas Museum, and China 83: Out of Blocks! at the Galerie Beaugeste.

Here’s how Rancinan’s studio presented the A Small Man in a Big World, accompanied by the eponymous book:

A Small Man in a Bug World, composed of original photographic works by Rancinan and a poetic essay which came up from a conversation between Caroline Gaudriault and the American thinker, Francis Fukuyama. Mankind has become too small, overwhelmed by world characterized by invariable geometry. Such is the pureness of the knowingly minimalist aesthetic that Rancinan has chosen to develop as part of a reflection by Caroline Gaudriault on the thought of Francis Fukuyama, American philosopher and theorist of the “End of History.” A Small man in a Big World is an attentive, alert and lucid analysis of the potential future of the human species. It expresses a dialogue between image and thought, a powerful echo transformed into a cry of alarm. Caroline Gaudriault and Gérard Rancinan have been involved in a dialogue on art and literature for the last fifteen years. Together, they conceptualize their artistic intentions, pose questions and transcribe each others’ ideas, each in their own medium. While Rancinan’s photographs confront the spectator on an emotional level, the thoughts of Caroline Gaudriault invite us to take time to pause and reflect.