Electron Libre
Suisse Marocain
Suisse Marocain (b. David Hardy) is a German artist who was born in the air between Tangiers and Geneva. When he’s not off traveling and collaborating with artists in Sicily and Madagascar, Germany or Portugal, he lives in Paris. If you see him here in the winter, he usually has a good tan, choosing his déplacements wisely. He’s a person who lives and wears his art. Put him inside the Musée Igor Balut, his ever-evolving installation in his studio on the 4th floor of 59 rue de Rivoli, and he’ll seem to disappear.
Suisse inside his installation at the Vagabond Gallery show in a pop-up store-front space on rue des Saint Pères.
When I think of Suisse, aside from his incredible dimples, I think of freedom. Freedom of expression in fashion, painting, collaboration, performance. I’ve seen him wearing pink knit legwarmers, a harlequin-printed jumpsuit, a top hat with a red heart on top (a favorite), and usually clothing he or another artist has painted on. His playfulness says, “c’est pas grave” just have fun with it all, we don’t have to be so serious all the time, here’s a paint brush.
An average day at the atelier on rue de la Tour des Dames, where the artists at 59. Rivoli were temporarily relocated for three years.
Suisse is one of the original residents of the well-known squat in the center of Paris at 59 rue de Rivoli that began in 1999, was bought by the city who renovated it from 2006-2009, then returned to the artists who now pay a nominal rent, and re-opened to the public on 09-09-2009. I became friends with him when I hung around photographing in 2006 while they moved the entire 6 floors of studios over to the temporary one-floor space in the 9th, which the city loaned them during renovations.
“I came to tell you I’m leaving,” the title of a Serge Gainsbourg song painted on the walls of the former Musée Igor Balut, on one of the last days in the old version of 59 rue de Rivoli. Suisse Marocain can be seen walking into his old studio, through doorways that have since been torn down. Paris, 2006.
59 has the kind of energy that makes you feel something is always just about to happen. It’s an adult fun house where the paintings don’t end at the borders of their canvases and there is always live music being played somewhere. The entire place is a collaborative installation, or as my friend Holden calls it, “an art zoo.” Being open to the public, it has become a tourist attraction. If you stay there for an entire day, you meet a lot of people (artists, musicians, curious people, and some lost, who just want to be pointed toward the Louvre or the Notre Dame). As Suisse has been working there for over a decade, he’s made a lot of connections and has often helped bring over artists from Lisbon, Madagascar, Italy, Germany and elsewhere to collaborate here and hold exhibitions.
Suisse & collaborative painting on a truck during Nuit Blanche, Paris, 2010.
I had a small studio at 59 in 2009/2010, around the corner from Suisse. During that time, a part of my practice became devoted to self-portraiture, which began by using elements from Musée Igor Balut. At that time, his generosity encouraged me to claim space that I may never have asked for let alone taken, without having him metaphorically open the door and say, have a look in there, you can work here you know, we’ll make room for you. Last summer I was looking for a studio and he cleared out a corner for me to use while he was in Sicily working and doing his under-water art show, an installation of artwork that requires viewers go diving in goggles to discover his work. Because, why not? With Suisse, anything is possible.
Hanging around during the 2nd move, from rue de la Tour des Dames back to 59 rue de Rivoli. Paris, 2009.