Rina Banerjee is back in Paris with a show titled “Human Traffic.” As it turns out, the subject could hardly be more topical with the European refugee crisis. In fact, the New York-based artist has been working for some time on sculptures, wooden panels, and large format drawings on a wider theme, covering movement of all kinds. On the plus side, Banerjee is thinking about positive and voluntary journeys, those that enrich both travelers and culture. On the negative, she is depicting forced journeys of the refugee sort, such as those having to relocate because of war, terrorism and poverty, colonization. There are echoes of slavery, the exploitation of women and children, and human trafficking. This is Banerjee’s first solo show in the Galerie Nathalie Obadia since “Imagining the other half of the world from here,” which was organized in 2011 to coincide with her exhibition at the Musée Guimet, which examined Asian civilizations and their complex relationship with the West. The artwork titles are as long as some journeys, as surreal and as poetic. One is attached to a sculpture: “Make me a summary of the world, she was his guide and had travelled on camel, rhino, elephant and kangaroo, dedicated to dried plants, glass houses - for medical study, vegetable sexuality, self-pollination, fertilization her reach pierced the woods country by country.” The sculpture is a definition of the form called “mixed media.” There are pointed horns, umbrellas, a plastic doll’s head, a wooden rhinoceros, shells and tree branches. A darker work conveys the trauma of displacement. It is called “Soldier: overseas and out of place his species seeded dead to grow as common place, bore beautiful flowers of wound, carnage discovered a resin sticky like sweat. He had courage and loyalty when everyone wept and came home emptied while we slept.” Banerjee, born in Calcutta, in 1963, has work in the Whitney Museum (New York), SF MoMA (San Francisco) and elsewhere. “I am attracted to delicate, fragile and esoteric details awkwardly placed in the artwork, which invite us to head in new directions and which take us on a journey,” according to a statement by the artist. “My eye is tired of always looking at culture through a single prism.” Among other recent, separate works on migration in Europe: a new installation by Cameroonian, Paris-based artist Barthélémy Toguo, called “Migrant,” at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery in London; and “Rêve Brise?” (“Broken Dream?”) at La Maison M in Saint Denis, with six artists paying homage to migrants. The Banerjee show runs through October 24, 2015. A monograph is published by Dilecta, with texts by Courtney J. Martin, Wangechi Mutu and Cédric Vincent.Information: http://www.galerie-obadia.com/artist_detail.php?ar=58
↧