Davide Balula
21 Apr - 16 Jun 2012
View of the exhibition The Buried Works
Galerie frank elbaz, Paris, April 21st to June 16th, 2012
© Zarko Vijatovic
Galerie frank elbaz, Paris, April 21st to June 16th, 2012
© Zarko Vijatovic
DAVIDE BALULA
The Buried Works
21 April – 16 June 2012
Within the same field of research as Davide Balula's recent paintings (River Paintings, Burnt Paintings, Artificially Aged Paintings...), the artist modifies the architecture of the gallery and installs an incubator for the creation of new paintings, a vivarium where canvases are naturally picking up pigmentation underground. The installation is composed of several tons of dirt, water, custom wood flooring, and blank canvases buried under the floor of the gallery.
At the end of the exhibition, the paintings will be unearthed via customized trap doors. They will then be stretched, framed and dispersed into the world.
A version of the exhibition as a one-night dinner will be served within the installation, consisting of cooked and raw ingredients based on edible dirt, roots and other seasonal produce. (Menu in collaboration with Agata Felluga. Natural Wine selected by Lara Brutinot and Marc Grand d'Esnon.)
While Linda was devouring her daily miles in Riverside Park writing her Mémoires, Davide was planting grass and canvases under the feet of Parisians. In dialog from two different places at the same time, by Instant Communication, they exchanged words and images while walking in synch :
— Linda, in your last Poem, you compare Art to Dirt...
— Yes, let's imagine: Pour some water, stir the mud.
— Pouring water onto Art?
— ... Stir the mud. Plant a Rose. Let the earth dry. Feed the dead, feed the bee...
— Here... Look! A light-bug!
— It seems like his light is Off. And he is walking in daylight. He must be a sleepwalker.
— Did you know that light-bugs snore with a buzz that has the same frequency as the fluorescent light buzz? For months underground, they play with the protein in their brain so they can change the color of their bottom. I wish i knew how to do that with mine!
— Wow, Time is flying and colors should change very soon.
— Let's stop for a moment. I'm starting to feel the earth under my sole. It must be because my socks come from Murano.
— That reminds me of one of my earliest memories from when I was a child. We were in Miami Beach. I was desperately telling everyone how I wanted a pair of those "shoes you can see the ground under". Of course, nobody understood what i meant... I remember clearly bending down to my cousin's feet, and pointing at the landscape between her toes and her heels... I remember looking at those palm trees in that space under her feet... What I wanted was a pair of high heels!
— Haha, an original point of view of the world already!
— Haha, yes indeed.
— We can stop here if you want. What about facing that ceiling?
— Good idea, we could make more room if we opened some doors, here, on the ground.
— And after we have a bite to eat, we could install ourselves on that wall over there? What do you think?
(After a discussion between Davide Balula and Linda Nochlin about the poem Art is not Dirt written by Linda Nochlin, 18/03/2012)
Born in 1978 in France. Lives and works in Paris, France.
Expositions (selection): 2011 : Danser sa vie, Performance, danse et arts visuels aux 20è et 21è siècle, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France; Wall to Wall, Blackston, New York, USA; European-American-Friendship, Part I of a II-Part Project, DUVE Berlin, Germany; Itinéraire Bis, MAC/VAL, Vitry-sur-Seine, France; C’est l’amour à la plage, Musée Régional d’Art Contemporain Languedoc-Roussillon, Sérignan, France; De A à B, de B à P, Entrepôt-galerie, Confort Moderne, Poitiers, France; 2010 : Au fil de l’oeuvre, La Galerie, centre d’art contemporain, Noisy-Le-Sec, France; 2009 : Un nouveau festival, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France; American Wall Nut, Fake Estate Gallery, NY, USA (solo) ; Return to Function, MMoCA, Madison, USA; 2008 : Le Lac, le mensonge, Confort Moderne, Poitiers, France (solo).
The Buried Works
21 April – 16 June 2012
Within the same field of research as Davide Balula's recent paintings (River Paintings, Burnt Paintings, Artificially Aged Paintings...), the artist modifies the architecture of the gallery and installs an incubator for the creation of new paintings, a vivarium where canvases are naturally picking up pigmentation underground. The installation is composed of several tons of dirt, water, custom wood flooring, and blank canvases buried under the floor of the gallery.
At the end of the exhibition, the paintings will be unearthed via customized trap doors. They will then be stretched, framed and dispersed into the world.
A version of the exhibition as a one-night dinner will be served within the installation, consisting of cooked and raw ingredients based on edible dirt, roots and other seasonal produce. (Menu in collaboration with Agata Felluga. Natural Wine selected by Lara Brutinot and Marc Grand d'Esnon.)
While Linda was devouring her daily miles in Riverside Park writing her Mémoires, Davide was planting grass and canvases under the feet of Parisians. In dialog from two different places at the same time, by Instant Communication, they exchanged words and images while walking in synch :
— Linda, in your last Poem, you compare Art to Dirt...
— Yes, let's imagine: Pour some water, stir the mud.
— Pouring water onto Art?
— ... Stir the mud. Plant a Rose. Let the earth dry. Feed the dead, feed the bee...
— Here... Look! A light-bug!
— It seems like his light is Off. And he is walking in daylight. He must be a sleepwalker.
— Did you know that light-bugs snore with a buzz that has the same frequency as the fluorescent light buzz? For months underground, they play with the protein in their brain so they can change the color of their bottom. I wish i knew how to do that with mine!
— Wow, Time is flying and colors should change very soon.
— Let's stop for a moment. I'm starting to feel the earth under my sole. It must be because my socks come from Murano.
— That reminds me of one of my earliest memories from when I was a child. We were in Miami Beach. I was desperately telling everyone how I wanted a pair of those "shoes you can see the ground under". Of course, nobody understood what i meant... I remember clearly bending down to my cousin's feet, and pointing at the landscape between her toes and her heels... I remember looking at those palm trees in that space under her feet... What I wanted was a pair of high heels!
— Haha, an original point of view of the world already!
— Haha, yes indeed.
— We can stop here if you want. What about facing that ceiling?
— Good idea, we could make more room if we opened some doors, here, on the ground.
— And after we have a bite to eat, we could install ourselves on that wall over there? What do you think?
(After a discussion between Davide Balula and Linda Nochlin about the poem Art is not Dirt written by Linda Nochlin, 18/03/2012)
Born in 1978 in France. Lives and works in Paris, France.
Expositions (selection): 2011 : Danser sa vie, Performance, danse et arts visuels aux 20è et 21è siècle, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France; Wall to Wall, Blackston, New York, USA; European-American-Friendship, Part I of a II-Part Project, DUVE Berlin, Germany; Itinéraire Bis, MAC/VAL, Vitry-sur-Seine, France; C’est l’amour à la plage, Musée Régional d’Art Contemporain Languedoc-Roussillon, Sérignan, France; De A à B, de B à P, Entrepôt-galerie, Confort Moderne, Poitiers, France; 2010 : Au fil de l’oeuvre, La Galerie, centre d’art contemporain, Noisy-Le-Sec, France; 2009 : Un nouveau festival, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France; American Wall Nut, Fake Estate Gallery, NY, USA (solo) ; Return to Function, MMoCA, Madison, USA; 2008 : Le Lac, le mensonge, Confort Moderne, Poitiers, France (solo).