West London's Thomas Dane Gallery has been filled with a quirky mix of concrete pig's heads, delicate watercolours and assorted garden furniture. The idea, insists Jean-Luc Moulène, the artist behind it all, is simple. 'If you objectify your floating mental images, they no longer float, they become legible.'
In 'Larvae and Ghosts', which opened last week, Moulene gives 'concrete existence' to this wonderfully weird internal world. Split between Thomas Dane's two galleries, the viewer is encouraged to meander through the eccentric mind of the French provocateur and 'artist's-artist', ahead of an extended survey at Centre Pompidou this autumn.
At 3 Duke Street, we find kitsch garden sculptures (think long-haired goddesses and faux-classical nymphs) that Moulène has severed from their lawn-bound narratives, by sanding great chunks from them and painting them purple. In doing so, he gives new meaning to their forlorn, gushing expressions.
The accompanying watercolours (a new medium for Moulène) are just as visceral. Pigs stand headless, and an ant is caught half way through some form of metamorphoses. This interest in broken bodies recalls Moulène’s early performative work with French 'body-artist' Michel Journiac, during the late 1970s, where the human form became the subject of intense, almost medical inspection.
Moulène's boundary-pushing past is also apparent in Thomas Dane's second gallery at 11 Duke Street. Up a narrow, winding staircase, we are transported into another corner of Moulène's mind. Here, we leave the 'sobriety of concrete and stone' in place of 'intense colours and cumulative, found objects', Moulène explains. A stand-out piece is La Faucheuse, which comprises an enormous scythe attached to a disturbingly vibrant plastic garden chair, as if the Grim Reaper is invisibly sitting, waiting to pounce.
Moulène has evaded critical categorisation for most of his career, and in doing so become a bit of a renegade. This new exhibition only adds to his mythic persona. We look forward to the Pompidou installment, for which Moulène promises 'more highly unusual materials', along with 'new works, many digitally generated from original sources such as the body, commercial, industrial and medical products'.
Notoriously difficult to categorise, Moulène uses found objects and unusual materials to make physical the objects in his mind. Pictured: Fairy Fantasy, 2015
At 3 Duke Street, we find kitsch garden sculptures that Moulène sanded great chunks from, in a process he calls ’cutting’, and painted purple. Pictured left: Bending, 2016. Right: Purple Graces, 2016
The accompanying watercolours (a new medium for Moulène) are just as visceral – pigs stand headless, for example. Pictured left: Piggy, 2016. Right: Pig, 2016
Anther image sees an ant half-way through a metamorphosis. Pictured: Mix, 2016
Pictured left: Cat Skull, 2016. Right: Donkey, 2016
La Faucheuse, 2015
INFORMATION
’Larvae and Ghosts’ is on view until 28 May. For more information, visit the Thomas Dane Gallery’s website
Photography courtesy the artist and Thomas Dane Gallery
ADDRESS
Thomas Dane Gallery
3 & 11 Duke Street
London, SW1Y 6BN
-
Alexandra Metcalf creates an unsettling Victorian world in LondonAlexandra Metcalf turns The Perimeter into a alternate world in exhibition, 'Gaaaaaaasp'
-
A Republic Tower apartment refresh breathes new life to a Melbourne classicLocal studio Multiplicity's refresh signals a new turn for an iconic Melbourne landmark
-
Inside Singapore's first 3D-printed concrete houseThe building presents an elegantly minimalist model for the future of mainstream construction
-
Alexandra Metcalf creates an unsettling Victorian world in London
Alexandra Metcalf turns The Perimeter into a alternate world in exhibition, 'Gaaaaaaasp'
-
Lubaina Himid and Magda Stawarska’s new show at Kettle’s Yard will uncover the missing narratives in everyday life storiesThe artists and partners in life are collaborating on an immersive takeover of Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, in an exhibition that delves into a lost literary legacy
-
Sexual health since 1987: archival LGBTQIA+ posters on show at Studio VoltaireA look back at how grassroots movements emphasised the need for effective sexual health for the LGBTQIA+ community with a host of playful and informative posters, now part of a London exhibition
-
Ten things to see at London Gallery WeekendAs 125 galleries across London take part from 6-8 June 2025, here are ten things not to miss, from David Hockney’s ‘Love’ series to Kayode Ojo’s look at the superficiality of taste
-
Out of office: what the Wallpaper* editors have been up to this weekThis week saw the Wallpaper* team jet-setting to Jordan and New York; those of us left in London had to make do with being transported via the power of music at rooftop bars, live sets and hologram performances
-
See the fruits of Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely's creative and romantic union at Hauser & Wirth SomersetAn intimate exhibition at Hauser & Wirth Somerset explores three decades of a creative partnership
-
Out of office: what the Wallpaper* editors have been up to this weekThe Wallpaper* team enjoyed good art, food and drink this week, attending various exhibition openings and unearthing some of the best pasta and cocktails that London has to offer
-
Caroline Walker's new show speaks to women everywhere, including me'Everything related to my life with young children, because it's such an all encompassing experience,' the artist says of her new show at the Hepworth Wakefield
