Paul Vergier. L'espace du manque, Paris, Éditions Lord Byron, 2025
First edition
Print run of 350 copies
Hardcover, 23 x 27.5 cm, 232 pages
Trilingual edition: French, English, German
Translations by John Barrett, Regine Herrmannsdörfer, Charlie Louth, Olivier Mannoni and Jeffrey Probst
ISBN: 978-2-488446-01-3
Paul Vergier. L'espace du manque is the first monograph retracing the past twenty years of the career and work of the painter Paul Vergier.
The volume includes a preface by Emmanuelle Lequeux, as well as texts by Jean-Michel Alberola, Peter Sloterdijk, and Pierre Wat.
“Granted, Vergier is not a poet, yet he shares with those who write the experience of enacting what it means to compose: to turn chaos into process, to make interactions unfold, so that the greenhouse, or the bramble thicket, might become that place where, precisely through constraint, a relationship is allowed to emerge. In the greenhouse, in the thicket, within the blinding entanglement the artist confronts, a world—under the effect of what we call painting—takes shape and opens up. It is there, available: awaiting its guests. Perhaps they are already present, behind the veil.” (Excerpt from the text by Pierre Wat)
Born in 1976 in Valréas, Paul Vergier is a French painter who lives and works in Grignan, in the Drôme region. He trained at the School of Fine Arts in Marseille, then at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, in the studio of Jean-Michel Alberola. His work has been exhibited in numerous galleries, including Galerie Nathalie Gaillard in Paris, Sono-Art Gallery in Seoul, lorch + seidel contemporary, Galerie Béa-Ba in Marseille, Galerie Eric Linard in La Garde-Adhémar, and H Gallery in Paris, which currently represents him.
Born in 1953 in Saïda, Algeria, Jean-Michel Alberola is a French painter, printmaker, sculptor, and photographer. He lives and works in Paris. From 1991 to 2018, he taught at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. His work has been the subject of numerous exhibitions at Galerie Templon (which has represented him since 1982), as well as at the Dominique-Vivant Denon Centre, the Louvre Museum, the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, and in many institutions both in France and abroad. His works are held in multiple collections, including the Cartier Foundation in Paris, the Ludwig Collection in Aachen, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris, the Museum of Fine Arts of Saint-Etienne, and the Carré d’Art in Nîmes.
Emmanuelle Lequeux has been a journalist in the Culture department of Le Monde since 2005 (writing exhibition reviews, reports, and investigations into the art world). She has also served as Head of the Exhibitions section for Beaux-Arts magazine since 2003 (covering international art scenes, conducting artist interviews and profiles, and exploring the art market).
Born in 1947, Peter Sloterdijk is a German philosopher and essayist. He is Professor of Philosophy and Aesthetics at the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design, where he also served as rector from 2001 to 2015. He teaches as well at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. In 2007, he was appointed a member of the Academy of Arts in Berlin, in the Literature section.
Born in 1965, Pierre Wat is a French art historian, art critic, and university professor. He has served as lecturer in contemporary art history at the University of Tours (François-Rabelais), as scientific advisor at the National Institute of Art History, and as professor at Aix-Marseille University and the École du Louvre. Since 2010, he has been teaching contemporary art history at the University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne.
