Over at 80 Essex Street, just below Delancey, there’s a decrepit, abandoned, and very nondescript building on the east side of the street. According to curator Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld, this old building used to be the Lower East Side’s main meat market a hundred years ago. Inside, it’s dank, dark, massive, and looks very ancient. There are beer bottles strewn about that look like they’ve been lying around since the 1940s. It’s the perfect space for a rave, a massive blow-out party, a real no-holds-barred type of affair.

But Roitfeld has something else in mind. He’s happy to announce that art will replace meat for the next month when he gives artist Nicolas Pol ten days and total freedom to prepare whatever he wants within the space—including possibly incorporating the old meat hooks still hanging from the ceiling for an installation. Pol is off in the corner, pounding away at some canvas frames, there are piles of rolled up canvases nearby, freshly shipped from Paris, and the space looks absolutely ready for his dark themed work.

Click here to view Nicolas Pol’s The Martus Maw.

VMAN caught up with Roitfeld and Pol as they geared up to present a showing of Pol’s large-scale, moody, and text heavy paintings, which, until November 9th haven’t yet been seen on American soil.

JOHNNY MISHEFF You’ve been curating for a few years now.
VLADIMIR RESTOIN ROITFELD I love it. It’s an obsession. It’s producing the shows. It’s working with all the artists. It’s the whole thing.
JM How did you come across Nicolas’s work?
VRR We met through an art collector in Europe. I just thought the work was astonishing. My friend Pat from RVCA also knew Nicolas’s work, so we decided to collaborate on a project together for Pat’s Artist Network Program.
JM What’s the deal with the title of the show?
VRR You wanna know? Ask Nicholas! I can tell you that Martus comes from Martyr and Maw comes from a very painful stomach.

JM What was immediately special to you about Mr. Pol’s work?
VRR Nicholas’s work is very bloody and sexual. It’s very abstract but at the same time very literal. They’re very erotic. They say very strong things, but you can’t take them very seriously.
JM How do you plan to present this work?
VRR This space is so big, so it provides us with a lot of solutions to that problem. We have about 25 works here, but we’re only going to put about 12 to 15 pieces in the show. We don’t want to fill up the space. We want the work to stand out so that we can present Nicholas’s work in the best possible way.
JM What’s the deal with this space?
VRR It used to be an old meat market about 100 years ago. You can still see the meat hooks.
JM Are you going to leave those old hooks as is?
VRR Oh yes, we’re not changing anything. Nicholas may want to use those for an installation. He’s still thinking about it. That’s why we moved in here 10 days before the show opens. I wanted him to have as much time as possible for him to set up the show.

JM So there’s potential for some improvisation. That’s fantastic for him. I’m obsessed with this space. This is Nicholas’s first show on American soil, right?
VRR This is Nicholas’ first time in New York! He’s totally excited. I picked him up from his hotel last night, and we went walking around the meat packing district and I could tell he was incredibly excited.
[We interrupt Nicolas from his work for a moment.]
JM Nicolas, I have to know what the title of your show is all about.
NICOLAS POL It’s really abstract. It’s a weakness. The Martus… like someone who dies for their beliefs… And the Maw… it’s a sick liver… These words became a self-portrait to me.

“The Martus Maw” opens on November 10, 2009, at 80 Essex Street, NYC.

To see more of Nicolas’ work, visit Vladimir’s Feedback Ltd website.

feedbackltd.net

KEYWORDS: art, nicolas pol, vladimir restoin roitfeld