Peter Buggenhout — Ni chair, ni poisson — Laurent Godin Gallery — Exhibition — Slash Paris

Past: October 19 → November 23, 2013

Ni chair, ni poisson is the second solo exhibition of Peter Buggenhout at the gallery.

For over ten years, Peter Buggenhout has been developing three distinct types of sculptures simultaneously, all made from combinations of various organic, household or industrial waste materials: the Gorgo, which are aggregates of trash interlaced with blood and horsehair, the Blind Leading the Blind, resembling clusters of junk picked up from abandoned wrecks or urban wastelands after an accident, and the Mont Ventoux, whose envelop, cotton-filled cow paunches, seems to grow by itself randomly.

The work of Buggenhout offers an iconoclastic approach to sculpture, beyond any normativity, playing with the codes of attraction and repulsion. These works of shapelessness avoid paraphrasing reality, admit no referent and embrace the assumption of chaos and madness. Here appears the surface of life’s backside — presupposing that it has a right one.

Ni chair, ni poisson will bring together a new series of works made in 2013, including two types of sculptures: the Gorgo and the Blind Leading the Blind. Like in a labyrinth, the visitor will move among the works, each one isolated under a glass box. The exhibition’s density can recall the display and experience of visiting a museum of natural history.

Born in 1963, Buggenhout lives and works in Ghent, Belgium. Exhibitions in 2013 include: Moma PS1, New York; Art Basel Unlimited; Palais de Tokyo, Paris. In 2012: Nouveau Musée National de Monaco; SMAJ Ghent. In 2011: MONA Hobart, Tasmania; Palazzo Fortuny, Venice; De Pont, Tilburg; Herzliya Biennial, Israel; Maison Rouge, Paris.