Benoît Piéron
Monstera, 2022
Serum holder, plaster, bucket, vegetable tar, Monstera, horticultural lamp, psychopomp plush made of patchwork of hospital sheets / Infusionsständer, Gips, Eimer, Pflanzenteer, Fensterblätter, Gartenbaulampe, Plüschtier-Psychopompos aus Krankenhausbettwäsche-Patchwork
1.90 m x 60 x 60 cm
Exhibition view / Ausstellungsansicht Horizones - Fondation Ricard, 2022, Paris
Photo: Aurélien Mole
Courtesy Galerie Sultana
© the artist
Benoît Piéron
Little Prince, 2022
Serum holder, tagger's paint, plush eyes, patchwork of hospital sheets (surgical sector), chain, geological map of the area between Dungeness and Sissinghurst in Kent (UK), elastic bandage fastener, embroidery drum, compression sleeve, wooden hand, nail polish and false nails / Infusionsständer, Sprühfarbe, Plüschaugen, Patchwork aus Krankenhausbettwäsche (aus dem OP-Saal), Kette, geologische Karte der Region um Dungeness und Sissinghurst in Kent (UK), elastische Verbandklammer, runder Stickrahmen, Kompressionsärmel, Holzhand, Nagellack und Kunstnägel
2.12 m x 73 x 40 cm
Exhibition view / Ausstellungsansicht Horizones - Fondation Ricard, 2022, Paris
Photo: Aurélien Mole
Courtesy Galerie Sultana
© the artist
Benoît Piéron
Le rouge à lèvres, 2015
Blood of the artist, wax, white lilac / Blut des Künstlers, Wachs, weißer Flieder
11 x 3 x 3 cm
Exhibition view / Ausstellungsansicht Cottagecore, 2022, Galerie Sultana, Paris
Photo: Aurélien Mole
Courtesy Galerie Sultana
© the artist
Benoît Piéron’s artistic practice is informed by his lifelong experience with illness and a childhood largely spent in hospitals. In his work, he addresses the medical and social treatment of sick bodies, experiences of waiting and uncertainty, care and intimacy. When, for instance, he patchworks recycled hospital bedsheets to make blankets, flags, pillows, and plush bats (psychopomps or “soul guides”), sensuous bodies replace the rigid infrastructure of the hospital, lending “plasticity” to illness, as the artist puts it. By drawing parallels between skin and fabric, between medical sutures and sewing, Piéron makes artwork out of individual stories, reclaiming the ailing body from the hands of medicine.
Curated by Manuela Ammer
