Laurence Bonnel
dal 24/4/2013 al 7/6/2013
Segnalato da
24/4/2013
Laurence Bonnel
JAS Gallery, Paris
Mouvements. Defying the forces of gravity: it is the figure of a tight-rope walker, whose crossing of the divide, in transition from one physical or emotional state to another.
Defying the forces of gravity
The human figure occupies an essential place in the work of Laurence Bonnel.
It is the figure of a tight-rope walker, whose crossing of the divide, in transition from one
physical or emotional state to another, is captured by the artist by a process of duplication. As
if freezing the fragile movement of human existence, which perpetually oscillates between
two states to find a point of balance, Bonnel’s sculptures show the human being at grips with
opposite poles of attraction, struggling with forces of gravity - forces which symbolise the
pressures exerted by the outside world but also from within ourselves.
In Self-portrait, a woman seems crushed to the ground by an unbearable burden
but nevertheless tries to raise herself: symbolising human resistance to the trials of life, as we
constantly fall and pick ourselves up. In Isis, a dancer defies her own mass, hanging
weightless for a moment of complete fulfilment. An ecstatic instant in which the extreme
control of the body in tension is suddenly relaxed and tips over into a soaring release.
In Full.Y, an individual emerges from the crowd and darts forward. But, also drawn by a
contrary force, his back remains fused to the interlocking group. Expressing repulsion and
attraction, individualisation and anonymity, the work says something important about human
relationships: the force of attraction exercised by social life and the desire for closeness with
others, but also the need for solitude and separation from the crowd is one is to truly exist.
Born again from the ashes
Chairs, neon lights, clay jars: Laurence Bonnel’s multiple variations on different objects also
explore the essence of movement. By causing objects to pass by stages through a process of
construction/deconstruction, she conveys the instable nature of the world around us, which is
both creative and destructive.
The “jars” can be seen as timeless containers of Knowledge. Many in number, they topple and
break one by one, suggesting the ambivalence underlying the notion of Culture: if it is not to
get stuck in alienating dogmas, but remain living and creative, tradition must subsist by
successive metamorphoses, between repetition and difference, permanence and erosion.
The theme of Fall, is the disintegration, seen from different angles, of a chair which breaks us
and turns to ashes as it topples over. It symbolises the fragile basis of the social structure. An
instable structure which can become unbalanced and fall apart at any time, but which is born
again from its ashes. From the debris, the artists in fact reconstructs words which convey
meaning: create, be, see, breathe, tomorrow, again. A way of suggesting that, after the darkest
chaos, dawn will break again.
Amélie Adamo
BIOGRAPHY
Laurance Bonnel was born in 1976, in Paris, where she lives and works. After taking an arts
degree, in 1998 she decided to devote herself to sculpture, learning various techniques from a
number of teachers. As well as featuring in many private collections, in France and abroad,
her work has been exhibited by various galleries and museums: Galerie NOSE (Paris, 2003),
Grand Palais (Paris, 2006), Galerie Jane Griffiths (Val d’Isère) and Galerie Marie-Laure de
l’Ecotais (Paris) from 2008, the Fu Xin Gallery (Shanghai, Las Vegas and New York), the
San Diego Art Fair and the Miami Art Fair (2011).
Vernissage, 25 April
Jas Gallery
17 rue des Saints-Pères Paris
The gallery is open from Tuesday to Saturday, 2.00pm > 7.00pm
admission free