Louis Jacquot: Tantalo
Biblioteca Vasconcelos, Mexico City, Mexico
January 31 - March 1, 2026
Exhibition views: Louis Jacquot: Tantalo, Biblioteca Vasconcelos, Mexico City, Mexico.
Villa Magdalena is pleased to announce Tántalo, an exhibition by Louis Jacquot (b. 1994, Paris) featuring in situ paintings made for the Biblioteca Vasconcelos in Mexico City which houses a collection of over 600,000 books. The exhibition will be on view at the library from January 31 to March 1, 2026, with a preview on Thursday, January 29.
Tántalo refers both to tantalum -a metal- and to the Greek myth of Tantalus, king of Frigia and son of Zeus; condemned to stand in a pool of clear water that recedes each time he tries to drink from it. Above him, branches laden with fruit withdraw whenever he tries to reach for them. This story evokes an experience that is pertinent throughout all of Jacquot’s work: a constant tension between appearance and withdrawal, between matter and its disappearance, the promise of an image and the impossibility of fixing it. A fading reflection, a slipping glimmer, a surface that never fully gives itself. In a place like the Biblioteca Vasconcelos -suspended, transparent, layered- this idea finds a natural resonance. The space itself seems to offer forms that appear and retreat, as if the building shared this “tantalizing” condition.
The project presents 20 floating paintings that engage in dialogue with the library’s building. One of the most emblematic sites of modern Mexican architecture designed by Alberto Kalach, which strongly evokes the surrealist infrastructure depicted by Jorge Luis Borges in his short story The Library of Babel, through the impression of an infinite and ultimately unattainable body of knowledge. Distributed like a map suspended in the air, the works function simultaneously as paintings, objects, and a unified installation.
Conceived as an immersive experience that encourages the public to wander throughout the labyrinth-like structure and appreciate the countless interior views and angles within the building, the installation will be accompanied by participatory workshops and a mediation program with local audiences. The project explores reflection and perception, fostering a sensitive dialogue between art, public space, and knowledge.
The imagery in the paintings comes from the artist’s wanderings through the library’s collection as well as views of the garden and the structure’s exterior. Initially the books that Jacquot selected matched subjects of interests: art history, political and social history of Mexico, philosophy, Mexican cinema, etc. but eventually the books were chosen in a somewhat arbitrary manner determined by the appeal of the particular view from within the library.
Made with blue cotton canvases of domestic origin and industrial pigments that disperse light, the works never appear as fixed images, remaining responsive to the gravity of the space itself and becoming activated by the various sources of light reflecting off the pigments on the surface of the paintings.
Louis Jacquot graduated from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Paris (2020), where he presented his MFA Thesis show DNSAP (2020). Recent solo exhibitions include: Louis Jacquot: Lay (Villa Magdalena, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain, 2023), Gilbert de Clerc (Gate 44, Milan, Italy, 2023), Jeopardy (DS Galerie, Paris, France, 2023), Check 1212 (Fonds de Dotations Weiss, Paris, France, 2022), Jantar Mantar (Futur, Paris, France, 2019). Recent group shows include: Maison Clearing curated by Olamiju Fajemisin (Clearing, Basel, Switzerland, 2025), Better Views: Louis Jacquot & Kyveli Zoi (Kyan, Hydra, Greece, 2025), Illusive Places II: Thomas Chapman, Alejandro Garmendia, Louis Jacquot, Lucy Mullican, Milko Pavlov (Villa Magdalena, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain, 2024), Est-ce celui-ci d’escargot qui renaît ou bien un autre? (DS galerie, Paris, France, 2024), Theatrum Mundi (Fermanville, France, 2024), Illusive Places: Thomas Chapman, Alejandro Garmendia, Louis Jacquot, Lucy Mullican, Milko Pavlov curated by Cy Schnabel (Pace Gallery, Seoul, South Korea, 2024), Cabinet de dessins: Martin Kippenberger, Boris Kurdi, Renée Levi, Elza Sile, Alejandro Villabona curated by Louis Jacquot (DS Galerie, Paris, France, 2024).