Amélie Proulx: Les herbes de passage, 2020
Les herbes de passage (Chauves-souris), 2020
The installation Les herbes de passage (Chauves-souris) is part of a series of installations that poetically suggest the phenomenon of zoochory. Here, several bats fly across a series of fan shapes, created by casting in porcelain the cover of a Tupperware container of a certain era. The fan shape of the container evokes formal resemblances to bat-wings but suggests also that the scene unfolds against a nocturnal landscape. At the foot of the mural, there are objects, such as lemons and banana leaves, cast in porcelain, which make reference to the role that bats play as pollinators in tropical forests. Other objects, such as abstract geometrical solids featuring fan-relief or a Tupperware container cast in porcelain and ornamented with floral motifs, reveal formal references to bats but also to still lifes and vanitas, which evoke the passage of time and impermanence of things.
Les herbes de passage (Chauves-souris), 2020, Porcelain, glaze, nichrome wire, pins, 60 x 71 x 12 inches, photo credit : Étienne Dionne
Les herbes de passage (Écureuils), 2020
The installation Les herbes de passage (Écureuils) is part of a series of installations that poetically suggest the phenomenon of zoochory. Here, squirrels are busy gathering some food in a porcelain landscape that evokes a forest. While doing this, a squirrel gathers in its fur what could be seeds from different plants. By carrying those seeds, the squirrels is unconsciously contributing to the transformation of the landscape during its daily routine. At the foot of the mural, arrangements of plastic and cardboard containers cast in porcelain, evoking a studio landscape, are combined with oversized porcelain acorns, emphasizing the transformation of the landscape through the phenomenon of zoochory.
Les herbes de passage (Écureuils), 2020, Porcelain, glaze, nichrome wire, pins, 67 x 96 x 12 inches, photo credit : Étienne Dionne
Les herbes de passage (Lièvre), 2020
The installation Les herbes de passage (Lièvre) is part of a series of installations that poetically suggest the phenomenon of zoochory. Here, a green hare runs through a porcelain landscape that evokes labyrinthine shrubbery. Some kind of foliage emerges subtly from his ear, suggesting that not only does he contribute to spreading seeds and various plant species, but that these plants are sprouting from him too. At the foot of the mural, arrangements of plastic containers cast in porcelain, evoking a studio landscape, are combined with fruit, also cast in porcelain, which makes reference to still lifes in which scenes of hunting and fruit are often found together.
Les herbes de passage (Lièvre), 2020, Porcelain, glaze, nichrome wire, pins, 60 x 61 x 12 inches, photo credit : Étienne Dionne