Francis Alÿs Reihenfolge der Bücher (Chronologisch)

Mexico City–based artist Francis Alÿs (b. 1959) has assembled a group of paintings depicting Saint Fabiola, a 4th-century saint who gave up all earthly possessions and devoted herself to the practice of Christian asceticism. All of the pictures in the collection are based on an original work—now lost—by the 19th-century French artist Jean-Jacques Henner. Alÿs's collection of Fabiola portraits, numbering in the hundreds and painted by amateurs and professionals alike, is the focus of this intriguing book. Not only does it examine the artist’s exploration of collecting practices, but the publication also offers an unusual window into aesthetic, sociological, and anthropological values of the past century. In addition to cataloguing each of the Fabiola works, the book includes Saint Jerome’s eulogy for Fabiola (the primary source for Fabiola’s biography), followed by an interpretive text on evolving hagiographies and saints’ vitae, an analysis of the role of iconographic imagery in the practice of Catholicism, and art historical essays that focus on Alÿs’s practice.

Though primarily based in Mexico, Belgian artist Francis Alÿs (b. 1959) is a compulsive wanderer. Gaining international attention in the late 1990s, the works of Francis Alÿs (pronounced ‘ah-leece’) are based on his walks in various locations all over the world. Whether tracing the meandering Green Line in Jerusalem, interceding in the drift of the sand dunes outside in Lima, Peru, or documenting the varieties of people carting their wares around Mexico City, Alÿs examines current socio-political situations in specific urban sites, weaving his own fables into the tangled social fabric via performances, postcards, paintings, sketches, ‘tourist’ videos and a variety of other innovative media. Francis Alÿs is represented by David Zwirner Gallery, 525 W 19th Street, New York 10011, susan@davidzwirner.com and Lisson Gallery, 52-54 Bell Street, London NW1 5DA, contact@lisson.co.uk