Le Salon du Plaisir (2012)
8 CERAMIC SCULPTURES
Le Salon du Plaisir is a partial recreation of the key work that won Nadia Naveau the Antwerp Provincial Prize for Visual Arts in 2007. The ensemble of 47 sculptures was inspired by a photograph of the 1900 Paris Salon de Sculpture. Plaster models were exhibited as a catalogue from which the wealthy, diversion-seeking bourgeoisie could order a sculpture in a format and material of their choice. A second inspiration were the extremely detailed, ivory carvings the artist saw in 2005 in the souvenir shops of San Francisco’s Chinatown. Naveau’s eight, glazed sculptures display the pleasure with which she moulded each one taking no more than a day a sculpture. In these baroque assemblages, there is as much room on coral-like structures for horses as there is for Marge Simpson. The larger sculpture in the centre references a work by Bernini, but here the characters have been given deer antlers and glasses. I Wanna be a Cow Girl, a work from 2002, was stripped of its bright colours and reduced to pure formality.