Mike Bouchet

Carpe Denim (Rear View Mirror)

Jan 19 — Feb 25, 2017
New York, Chelsea

Mike Bouchet’s Carpe Denim (Rear View Mirror) presents work from his ongoing Carpe Denim series, which first began in 1997. In their most recent iteration, the works on view here focus on the backside of jeans re-presented at an exaggerated scale. This view of the rear emphasizes the loop pattern stitching commonly placed on jean back pockets, which seems to mimic and exaggerate the buttocks it’s intended to encase. Seen at this scale and in repetition, Bouchet prods at the persistent presence and evolving symbolism of the once humble pair of jeans.

Bouchet’s interest in the language of consumer production has long informed his work, and the Carpe Denim pieces are a distillation of this embedded vocabulary and its ramifications. By appropriating a quintessential American product, along with manifest advertising and conceptual strategies, Bouchet ratchets up the level of prurience implied in the original and magnifies the true locus of denim’s promise. 

Works

Bouchetloop1indigoorigin2015denimonstretcher47.x7078in.120x180cmcnon58.624
Loop 1 (Indigo Origin), 2015, denim, cotton stitching, 47 × 70 in., 119.4 × 177.8 cm
Bouchetloop1blueorigin2015denimonstretcher47.x7078in.120x180cmcnon58.619
Loop 1 (Blue origin), 2015, denim, cotton stitching, 47 × 70 in., 119.4 × 177.8 cm
Install1
Installation View
Bouchetreardenimview optionfigure92015pencilandinkonpaper17x11in.43.18x27.94cm
Rear Denim View Option Figure 9, 2015, pencil and ink on paper, 11 × 17 in., 27.9 × 43.2 cm
Bouchetreardenimview optionfigure13email2015pencilandinkonpaper17x11in.43.18x27.94cm
Rear Denim View - Option Figure 13, 2015, pencil and ink on paper, 11 × 17 in., 27.9 × 43.2 cm
Bouchettarif2004 2014silkscreenedenamelbrassbleacheddenim55.25x59in.140x150cmcnon58.642
Tarif, 2004-2014, silkscreened enamel, brass, bleached denim, 55 × 59 in., 139.7 × 149.9 cm
Bouchetreardenimview optionfigure7email2015pencilandinkonpaper17x11in.43.18x27.94cm
Rear Denim View - Option Figure 7 , 2015, pencil and ink on paper, 17 × 11 in., 43.2 × 27.9 cm
Install4
Installation View