Untitled

Installation located in the La Table d'Albert

Organic forms and references to parts of the body are common elements in Tunga’s work. This three-dimensional work, the presence of various types of materials – iron, quartz, ceramic, resin, fossil wood, bronze, rubber, plaster, leather, pearls – creates a dialogue between the quality ‘intrinsic thereof, between softness and rigidity’, both empty and full, invading the narrative space, suggestions that refer to the concept of transformation in the making.
This work is a part of the series titled, “La Voie Humide” or “The Humid Way,” pertains to the more romantic, less scientific side of alchemy. Mainly, these series build on the vocabularies of body-oriented Surrealist types – young Dali, Yves Tanguy, Hans Bellmer, and Balthus – abstracting them into suggestive three-dimensional shapes that seem both benign and perverse.
Pinkish flesh tones prevail in unglazed terra cotta bowls and pieces of rubber. These contrast strikingly with the dark metal structures supporting them, which form a kind of drawing in space: greenish bronze implements and raw materials, like quartz crystal and gum Arabic.