Baptiste Laurent

BAPTISTE LAURENT (Nantes, France, 1980).
"Ass pl vert sur marron", 2018.
Glazed ceramic.
Signed and dated on the inside.
Measurements: 21 x 16 x 8 cm.
Conceived as a tribute to Mame Mbaye this work was made in the workshop of the National Museum of Anthropology with the collaboration of Senegalese immigrants. It was exhibited in the show Exit (2018), where the artist established a critical cross between the portraits of migrant people and the scientific molds bequeathed by the colonial tradition.
The face, depicted with closed eyes and a densely glazed surface, evokes at once the death mask, the anthropological model and ceramics with traditional roots. This overlapping of references generates a deliberate tension with scientific sculpture and the orientalist imaginary, questioning its assumptions of neutrality and objectivity. Far from assuming a strict anthropological methodology, Laurent borrows their procedures to re-signify them, proposing a sensitive and subjective gaze on the foreign faces that are part of the contemporary European social landscape.
Baptiste Laurent is a visual artist based in Spain since 2007 and founder of the shared studio Latolier in the neighborhood of Usera (Madrid). He has exhibited in various national and international artistic and cultural institutions, such as the Palais de Tokyo, the National Museum of Anthropology or the Alliance Française. Self-taught, he combines his artistic practice with studies in political science and art history. He has worked as an art director and cultural manager in reference institutions such as the Venice Biennale and the Galleria Continua.