MacArthur Park

Mathias Coullaud Gallery, Collective exhibition Moi, Courbet, 2017, Paris France

Indoor landscape extract, performance

    Installation activated by a performance the 16th of March 2017 8 p.m. at Mathias Coullaud Gallery for the exhibition "Moi, Courbet".

    The ecosystem of the European undergrowth is precisely represented in a circle of two meters wide. The traces of human activity come from the undergrowth used as a cruising area (such as cigarette butts, tissues and used condoms). A path is visible through the greenery. This trail continues in Gustave Courbet's painting of a forest on the wall. The sylvan paintings, where a furrow cuts through the greenery, have often been interpreted as an echo of the vagina of the Origine du monde.

    On the evening of the opening, I lie naked, legs spread, in the continuity of the path. As in Marcel Duchamp's Étant donnés, the viewer sees a body on entering the gallery, which continues into the painting.

    MacArthur Park is a love song by Jimmy Webb, performed by Richard Harris, which became a famous disco hit with Donna Summer's interpretation. From then on it became an iconic piece of gay culture.