“If Adam and Eve had not eaten the divine apple, they would still be in paradise, right? And us? Where would we be? asks Ernesto Neto With regard to his last project.
In Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche in Paris, the Brazilian artist (earlier) presents his characteristic crocheted installations. A 28-foot snake runs up through the atrium for ‘Le la Serpent’, a monumental project that evokes the creation-myth of Adam, Eva and the snake.
Instead of looking at the story from the perspective of sin, Neto chooses to see the animal as a lifelong power that transcends the Abrahamic story. Using both male and female articles, the title positions the snake as extraordinary gender and instead as a joyful, spiritual power that can connect mind and body. The artist notes that many cultures, from Mesoamerica to Cambodian mythology to ancient Greek, regarded the snake as God. In view of the fact that the New New Year recently ushered in the year of the snake, the project also has a timely relationship with Eastern traditions.
Although Neto often includes daring colors in his installations, the yarn uses white in this project to use Aristide and Marguerite Boucicaut, the founders of Le Bon Marché, who encouraged artists to use the color in their works in the 19th century.
A collaboration, meditative space is waiting for visitors to the second floor. Neto composed a song that plays through the room, while a large T -shirt is in the middle. Dried leaves, turmeric and cumin fill the trunk and add an earthly, seasoned scent to the air. The walls in chalkboard style are designed for visitors to draw notes and leave for future viewers.
“I want to remind people that they have a body – that they can feel it,” Said the artist. “Activate memory and help us reconnect with our own essence.”
If you are in Paris, see “Le la Serpent” up to and including 22 February.
