'The Smoking Mother', by Laure Prouvost – Burlington Contemporary

30 November 2023

Prouvost’s work revels in slips of language: the arbitrary nature of definition, modes of miscommunication and ideas lost in translation. The artist often invokes a process of de-learning and undoing, attempting the seemingly impossible: to return the viewer to a pre-verbal state. As a ‘brain on the plate’, for Prouvost, the octopus comes to symbolise the slippery nature of language itself. It both disrupts linguistic convention and holds things together. In this artist commission, Prouvost traces the role and significance of the octopus in her recent practice.

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OCTOPUS
feminine, noun.

Many materialities, can be very beautiful.
Has many legs, can grab anything.
Feels through its leg (brain in the leg).
Can throw ink,
for cooking and writing.

Humans enjoy eating it.
One of the oldest.
Transparent. Grey-brown. Very powerful. Brain on the plate.
In its environment.

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Installation view of 'Laure Prouvost: Stranded By Your Side' at Lisson Gallery, New York, 7 September – 14 October 2023 © Laure Provoust, courtesy Lisson Gallery