La légende

With the opportunity of the exhibition devoted to Toni Grand in the Marseille's museum of contemporary art from June 30th to September 16th 2007, the stake of this book, conceived with Amélie Grand, Didier Larnac and Thierry Ollat, is to share with the readers the work of the artist through minimal moments of his life but not less intense, intimate moments but not less public. The artist at work, the artist on a journey, the artist at rest, the works due to depart in the yard, the works under construction, the works in the workshop, the anecdotes and observations quoted by his wife, his daughter, his artists friends, by curators and commissioners who took an active part throughout the years in the recognition of his work: all these selected moments play a fundamental part in the work of Toni Grand. The images, the materials, the tools, the contexts, the situations are also elements that infiltrate his work.
Genie Superlift Advantage (1999) is like the pause sign of our topic, in echo with the pulleys and lifting trucks of all kinds that punctuate this book and that granted to the artist a certain autonomy, a mechanical autonomy but also an autonomy of an artist, freedom to be in a few words. This book makes an attempt thus, furtively, to enrich one's glance of the unrecognised work of a rare quality French artist. The exhibition organized by the [Mac] and conceived by Didier Larnac is an homage and not a retrospective. It offered us the ideal moment for beginning such an editing work, with the complicity of all the close relations of Toni Grand.