One of the themes tackled by the Georgian Pavilion at The 57th International Art Exhibition in Venice is the transformative power of water and of rain in particular. Yet there are other installations and projects on display at the Venice Biennale this year, linked to the same theme, such as Michel Blazy's installations.
The French contemporary artist is considered a sculptor, though he works with rather unusual and ephemeral materials: in his projects he has so far employed perishable goods such as pasta, vegetables, foam, soil and insects.
Some critics file him under the "arte povera" label, but one of Blazy's installations inside Venice's Arsenale, actually revolves around some fashion accessories that can easily become expensive obsessions for those collecting them - sneakers.
Several pairs of trainers are on display on special shelves bathed in hydroponic lights, but the shoes do not represent the perfectly arranged collection of a sneaker fan since they are used as pots for plants.
Next to the sneakers there is also another installation, a pile of leaflets that will start to rot and transform as water constantly drips at regular intervals through the ceiling of the Arsenale.
In this way Blazy explores issues of accidental germination, alterations of matter, transformation, mutation, decay, surface degradation, transmutation, decrepitude of forms, decomposition, and, finally, death. These different phases constitute an essential development of his work.
While Blazy's artworks are not terribly strong and the artist already displayed in the past sneakers and sweaters as well that sprouted plants, the pieces still tackle relevant issues: through these ephemeral and fragile portable living universes in mutation, that rot, liquify, and decompose, Blazy comments about the cycle of life, death and rebirth, while reminding us about contemporary issues such as consumption (more than a cabinet of curiosities from the secret vault of a sneaker collector, the shoes look as if they were on display in a window shop...) and its consequences on the environment (his installations are located in the "Pavilion of the Earth" section of the Arsenale), and hinting at the people who were exploited to make the shoes.
While the plants grow, the sneakers will be completely ruined and will uncontrollably decompose by the end of the Biennale, in this way Blazy also questions the value of art and the durability of a work, the relation between the natural and the artificial and the idea of time passing and disappearance.
Blazy's art is childish and playful, almost calling to mind the science experiments you do at school about growing plants, and, while his pieces are often weak, they seem to go down well with the main theme of this year's Biennale - "Viva Arte Viva" - celebrating the vitality of art.
Maybe Blazy's artworks will not be of interest to older and more traditional art collectors, but they will certainly be a hit with the fashionistas and the sneaker heads visiting the Biennale and they will probably reappear in a conceptual boutique window at some point in the next few months. Who knows, his flowerpot trainers (and sweaters...) may even inspire some of us what to do with old unwanted clothes and accessories.
Note for book lovers: for this year's project "Unpacking My Library", inspired by Walter Benjamin's 1931 essay, Michel Blazy recommended as reading materials "La Hulotte", the French seminal nature journal that has been going for 40 years, by French school teacher, naturalist, writer and illustrator Pierre Déom, and "Joyeuses pâtes. 160 recettes" (Happy Pasta: 160 recipes), a cooking book by Macha Méril that may have inspired some of his previous pasta installations.
Comments