At the invitation of Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche to celebrate ‘Le Mois du Blanc’, French artist Prune Nourry presents her installation ‘L'Amazone Érogène’, from January 9 to February 21, 2021.
Through her work, she is inspired by the mythological figure of the Amazons. The artist plays with the symbols of the warrior and composed an installation with three major elements: the breast-shaped target, the bow and the arrows. The exhibition consists of a succession of sequences extending from the exterior of the store right to its heart. On rue de Sèvres, the figure of the Amazon will be directly evoked through the appearance of the bow and arrows. A bow with the profile of a breast will shoot its arrows (no less than 1’800) from one end of the set of ten window displays towards a target in the shape of a breast, giving a dynamic to the long succession of windows. As the arrows fly across the window displays, they form geometric motifs inspired by the American minimalism current, particularly Sol LeWitt and Frank Stella. Those opening onto rue du Bac and rue de Babylone will combine the motif of a tree trunk showing the rings of its life around hearts of targets.
The ‘Entrée sur l’Art Contemporain’ space, at the corner of rue du Bac and rue de Babylone, will give a second way into the exhibition through a making-of and through clips shown from the film Prune Nourry made in 2019, Serendipity, in which the figure of the Amazon could already be seen. However, it is under the glass roof of Le Bon Marché, which peaks 16 meters up, that the heart of the exhibition will be found. Hundreds of arrows (889 to be exact) in white wood and feathers will take flight under the glass roof, rising to the sky. Drawing a cloud, all point towards a four-meter breast-target overlooking the store’s escalators. On the other side of the target, a bound bow, also monumental at 5 meters high, will provide a twin to the flight of arrows. It points its arrow towards a second suspended mirrored target. The installation offers an inspired and striking metaphor of breast cancer, which the artist has personally experienced in recent years.
All IGDS Members are invited to the virtual cocktail on Thursday, 14th January 2021 at 20:30 Paris time on www.prunenourry.lebonmarche.com/.
