'Pour faire joli'
'Pour faire joli'
'Pour faire joli'
'Pour faire joli'
'Pour faire joli'
'Pour faire joli'

'Pour faire joli'

Elvire Bonduelle

21 Sept > 5  Nov 2011

Do we fit into the molds? Do the statistics reflect our reality? These and many other questions arise in the upcoming exhibition at Sabrina Amrani Art Gallery, from September 21st. Artist Elvire Bonduelle presents 'Pour faire joli' (To make nice) in which she plays with everyday objects like plates, frames, jewelry, journals and casual photograph to wonder if the art starts to fit the mold: Is art becoming decorative objects? A decorative object can be art?
Bonduelle proposals are heterogeneous in format, she jumps from video art to drawing or sculpture. However, she maintains a constant in her message, with a vision halfway between the innocence and irony, reflects on the position of the happiness (and its search) in the current social model. Therefore, the main piece of the show is El mejor País.

In hands of Bonduelle the newspaper is revolutionarized, she has built a special edition of the paper reporting only positive news. For months, the artist in collaboration with young people from the culture and art world, has explored the issues of El País looking for good information. With this selection a special edition of the newspaper has been reproduced, that will be distributed in Madrid during a performance by Bonduelle. The approach to journalism ofPour faire joli does not stop in this first work. With the installation Cravaches (Whips), the artist reflects on how newspapers, another mold that facilitates our integration into society, hits us daily with informations. Bounduelle replaced the shafts that protect the newspapers in bars and cafés by whips. With them, she will 'protect' national and international newspapers.

The proposal about social patterns of Pour faire joli continues on other objects, but does not leave the daily news. With Life is a piece of cake, Bonduelle focuses on an object as standard as a plate. All crockery to reflect different local and international data such as the global unemployment rate, 7%; the fact that 30% of the countries are ruled by authoritarian governments or only 18% of the world's parliamentarians are women. The eternal question about whether the statistics really reflect us is told in these pie slices or statistical wedges painted plates that are arranged in a pyramid and in small picnic boxes.

The rest of the exhibition explores other archetypes. This is the case of Bijou (Jewel), a jewel with the word jewel: "an object and a term that serve to the same purpose: to make nice” explains Bounduelle. That same spirit is evident in Mur de ciels (Wall of skies), a small set of photographs show different skies captured by the artist during the past months.

The last pieces of Pour faire joli move the mold idea to furniture.Have a bite and Rest in Peace goes into the "adaptation of the human body itself to the world, the mold" thanks to some blocks of foam that include a slight tear, like a bite, to allow the spectators to sit
in a small uncomfortable space with a surface between rigid and soft. Just like the society in which we all live.

Elvire Bonduelle (Paris, 1981) completed her artistic training in London and Paris, where she began her career in Richard Deacon's studio. Her work has been exhibited at galleries in France, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland, Algeria, the United States and Canada, among others, and has been part of group shows such as '10 artists-10 jours' at the Palais de Tokyo (Paris). Bonduelle achieved widespread notoriety in France after her work 'Le meilleur Monde', which now is brought to Spain by Sabrina Amrani.

 
More information about Elvire Bonduelle

El mejor País at Twitter: #ElmejorPais
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Works in the exhibition