Laure Prouvost
Laure Prouvost
Swallow
2013
12 min
Inspired by the aesthetic and sensuous pleasures of Italy and referencing the genre of panoramic painting, Prouvost plays with language, translation and the historic idea of visiting the Mediterranean for inspiration. Swallow is seductive, enticing viewers to give themselves over to classic objects of beauty: young women bathing in a refreshing sunbathed river, a pale pink rose, white clouds on a blue sky. Only subtle or momentary estrangements complicate the viewing experience: the bathers’ unselfconscious attitude sets them apart from their marble counterparts, a computer charger lies in the grass, raspberries are greedily gobbled up by a fish, or squished underfoot. The soundtrack is sexy and extremely intimate. The narrator breathes heavily and whispers in your ear, carrying you from one clip to the next.
Commissioned as part of the Max Mara Art Prize for Women, in collaboration with the Whitechapel Gallery
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Born in the tenth and final century of the 2nd millennium, Laure Prouvost trained in the United Kingdom, and lives and works between the Croatian Desert, Antwerp and London. Solo exhibitions include , They Are Waiting for You, at the Walker Art Centre, Minneapolis, USA (2017); And she will say: hi her, ailleurs, to higher grounds…, at Kunstmuseum Luzern, Switzerland (2016); GDM – Grand Dad’s Visitor Center, at Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan, Italy (2016); all behind, we’ll go deeper, deep down and she will say, at the Museum Für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt Am Main, Frankfurt, Germany (2016); the Max Mara Art Prize for Women, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK and the Collezione Maramotti, Reggio Emilia, Italy (2013), among many others.
Prouvost won the MaxMara Art Prize for Women in 2011 and was the recipient of the Turner Prize in 2013. She will represent France in the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019.
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