Work from the Collection

Damien, Pologne

Artist: Audrey Nervi
Date: 2005
Medium: Oil on canvas
Materials: Oil paint, Canvas
Dimensions: 25 x 18 x 3 cm
Collection: Lafayette anticipations - Fonds de dotation Famille Moulin
Domain: Peinture
After one of her many wanderings, Audrey Nervi painted from a photograph what appears to be a tombstone. Erected on the side of a Polish road near several trees, the tombstone is decorated with a bouquet of red and white roses left to honour the memory of a certain Damien, as suggested by the title and the total absence of a human figure. The gaze focuses on this trivial object, which seems temporary and hastily constructed, and which is put on display here for the eloquence of its message. A faint white glow emanates from the tombstone, the result of Audrey Nervi’s sharp brushwork imitating the light of a flash, which, on the canvas, takes on the new meaning of an existential reflection. In this modern memento mori, the artist distorts the norms of classical painting to evoke the pain caused by the loss of one of her friends, who we suspect was the victim of a car accident.

Text written by Elea Dargelos as part of the partnership between the École du Louvre and Lafayette Anticipations – Fonds de dotation Famille Moulin.

Exhibition

Antidote 2
La Galerie des Galeries, Paris (France)
from 27 Oct to 09 Dec 2006