March 21, 2015

A charming website, Shit My Cats Read, brought my attention to the French artist Loris Greaud. Most of the next quotes are from the opening link: 

Loris Gréaud is a French artist with varied interests including underwater fireworks; classical statuary turned grotesque; the color black, used promiscuously;........

[In an interview setting the artist is asked] What do you think of the parasite toxoplasma gondii, which some scientists think can cause irrational cat-related passion in humans?? Perhaps you’ve already been infected…

LG: For this recent project at Dallas Contemporary I used viruses as a format and a metaphor. I was following a figure who is emblematic in my work—William S Burroughs—who, as you know, was also a fan of cats, and very inspired by them. Most people haven’t heard of Burroughs’s rare novel, The Cat Inside. Here’s Burroughs in a 1971 public talk: “My general theory has been that the Word is literally a virus, and that it has not been recognized as such because it has achieved a state of relatively stable symbiosis with its human host; that is to say, the Word Virus (the Other Half) has established itself so firmly as an accepted part of the human organism that it can now sneer at gangster viruses like smallpox and turn them in to the Pasteur Institute. But the Word clearly bears the single identifying feature of virus: it is an organism with no internal function other than to replicate itself…” Regarding toxoplasma gondii, did you know that it transforms mice into creatures who don’t fear cats? But when humans are contaminated it’s way less fun, since it can cause malaria…

[He was asked ] Cats are often aloof, and moody…hard to please…fiercely independent…and a bit sadistic. Are these qualities that you relate to as a human? If so, how so?

LG: It’s more about what a project requires and where you’re ready to go as an artist. Being independent is really important to me; I don’t think I’m sadistic, though. But you know, if you put a mirror in front of a cat you can expect many reactions—some will play with their reflection; most will be scared; others will attack. It’s quite similar if you were to put a giant mirror in front of the human world. There wouldn’t be one single reaction.....

The only clue I have to his age is the fact he was expelled in 1993 from the National Conservatory of Music and Dance of Paris.

His show names are entrancing--

“Unplayed Notes Museum” is the show on view at Dallas Contemporary through March 21, 2015.  Earlier, a show at Plateau à Paris (March 10 to May 22 2005) was titled:
"Silence goes more quickly when played backwards".

Here is a scene from the Dallas Contemporary show.




Pace Wildenstein represents him in New York.