You enter the gallery like a bee, an innocent thief of meaning, thinking you can pick up whatever Apichatpong Weerasethakul hands you. A pirouette on oneself is all it takes to complete the installation: 4 photographs and 3 short videos are what the Thai artist has chosen to exhibit for his 2016 harvest. The art of asking a few questions.
An incessant hissing sound, taken from a looping video, buzzes around the room and accompanies our introspection into the photographs and videos on display.
A quiet flower rescued from the animated film "Subwoofer" is matched by a swarm of bees being asphyxiated by gas; a flaming boot hovering over the threatened Mekong in "The Last Year of the River" is matched by the same boot, this time copied from another photograph with a disturbing black background. As in his feature films (1), the nature that inspires Apichatpong Weerasethakul is idyllic, wild and random.
The buzzes, sparks and bombs are allegories of an intimate space on the alert, and the artist is the first to capture it. Pentax", for example, is a portrait of the artist Chai Siris photographing himself, illuminated by an imposing cinema projector.
The committed artist is using the Torri gallery to invite us into one of his beehives, a temporary refuge that resonates with the social and poetic inclemency of his heart. Don?t just take a quick look, take the time to appreciate the work of this protean passer-by.
(1) Apichatpong Weerasethakul won the 2010 Palme d?Or at Cannes for Uncle Boonmee, the man who remembers his past lives.
Text: Capucine Ferry
Photo: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
From 30 April to 28 May 2016
Tuesday to Saturday, 11am to 7pm
Torri Gallery
7 rue Saint-Claude
75003 Paris
Tel.: 01 40 27 00 32
www.galerietorri.com
