Laurent Proux – I’d put you in a mirror

In the organizer's words:

Galerie GNYP is pleased to present the first solo exhibition of French artist Laurent Proux in Germany. "I'd put you in a mirror" can be seen from March 15 to April 20, 2024 at Knesebeckstr. 96, 10623 Berlin.

The opening will take place on Friday, March 15, from 5-8 pm in the presence of the artist.

In his large-format, expressive works, Proux stages people in the field of tension between industry and nature in the context of 21st century late capitalism. Depictions of workers in offices, factories and warehouses are juxtaposed with light-flooded scenes of people and nature. While the realistic depictions of the working and factory environment have a sober - perhaps sobering - quality, Proux uses powerful and expressive stylistic devices in his depictions of nature. The interplay of the works confronts the viewer with the riddle of human nature in the present day, which must be deciphered in its many layers. What is the (un)natural? Is it people in an industrial context, protected by their clothes and a monotonous daily routine, or is it the naked body at the mercy of nature, caught between deformation and the instinctive freedom of animal instincts? Proux gives no clear answer - there are hints of hope and decline in both worlds. The works appear as multi-layered mirrors of human identity and way of life, around which viewers are invited to find themselves in Proux's ambivalent worlds.