Baptiste Laurent - Carpet

“Carpet”, 42x42cm, acrylic on paper, 2017.\nSigned on back. Sold unframed, shipped rolled.\n\nBio artiste/\nBaptiste Laurent (1980, Nantes) is a visual artist who live and work\nin Madrid and Paris.\nHe has exhibited at various artistic and cultural institutions,\nincluding the Institut français de Madrid, Le Palais de Tokyo, Galeria\nLa Caja, Esquina Nua, Espacio Seara, Gazzambo Gallery, Alliance\nfrançaise, Museo Nacional de Anthropología, Galeria FL.\nHis traditional medium is painting, but he also works in sculpture\nand develops projects with a strong literary, social and\nanthropological component.\nIn his latest publications and exhibitions, "Conversaciones y\npunetazos", "Mauvaises Tournures", "Bajo el Mismo Mar" and "Exit",\nhe has repeatedly experimented with collaborative creative work\nwith other visual artists and literary authors.\nAs an anti-academic and eclectic artist, he likes to syncretise\npictorial styles, oscillating between neo-figurative narrative, graphic\npainting and expressionist abstraction.\nFounder of the 'Latolier' shared studio in Madrid's Usera district, he\nleads a dynamic community of Spanish and international visual\nartists\n\nSérie Exit/\nExit is a series of plastic works and a book that have\nbeen the subject of three exhibitions, at the Alliance\nFrançaise de Madrid, the Museo Antropológico de\nMadrid and the Gazzambo Gallery in 2018 and 2019.\nBalanced between paintings and sculptures, the Exit\nseries is a pictorial and imaginary account of the\nmigrant's journey, exile and ultimate success.\nThe sculptures were created around a workshop at\nthe Museo Antropológico de Madrid, in collaboration\nwith Senegalese immigrants in Madrid. Mame\nMbaye (one of the participants in this workshop), a\nstreet vendor, died of a heart attack while being\nchased through the streets of Madrid by the police.\nThis tragic event triggered a popular revolt in the\nLavapiés neighborhood.\nAs a tribute to Mame Mbaye, the series refers to the\ncollection of plaster casts of indigenous faces\nexhibited in the Anthropological Museum. This\nconfrontation contrasts with formal evocations of\nsocial science sculpture, traditional ceramic\nsculpture, death masks, orientalist art and trophies.\nThe impact of this mixture of contradictory effects\nt attempts to reflect the paradoxes of the reception of\nrefugees in Europe.\nWithout the rigour that characterises the\nanthropologist's or the scientist's approach, but\nimitating their processes, the aim is to sketch a\nsubjective sample of the new human figures living in\nEurope