Belly
Pol Taburet
Born in 1997.
Date:
2023
Medium:
Bronze, steel finish
Collection:
Private collection, China
View of Pol Taburet’s exhibition OPERA III: ZOO “The Day of Heaven and Hell” at Lafayette Anticipations, Paris, 21 June – 3 September 2023
© Pierre Antoine, Lafayette Anticipations
Belly is placed at the heart of the first act of the exhibition, in the centre of the apartment, like a soloist singing the lead role in an opera.
An elongated, sharp point forms her head, while her breasts and hips are represented by rounded protuberances and her legs rest on a saucer, like a shell floating on the water. This rusty bronze fountain recalls the goddess Aphrodite emerging from the waters as in Sandro Botticelli’s painting The Birth of Venus (1485). The work is at once protective, maternal, nourishing, and threatening with its piercing tip. Here, the fountain is dried up, evoking an imminent death rather than the immortality symbolised by the Fountain of Youth.