Assemblage: painted wood, wire mesh, cardboard, paper
38.1 x 21 x 6.4 cm
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Nicolas Poussin,
The Empire of Flora, 1631
oil on canven, 131 × 181 cm
Dresden, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister
What happens when art doesn’t last? Or alternatively, what happens when an artist seeks to destroy the past? To overturn existing ideas and styles? It requires courage to seize the opportunity to undertake a complete reinvention and to decide that your way is the best way into the future. By observing works of art and architecture and understanding how they were made – or unmade, Vanessa Badré helps us to explore the benefits of destruction. When is starting over good? What is necessary for it to succeed as a creative endeavor? When is it necessary? In the COVID and eventually post-COVID world, when so many aspects of life and business have been completely upended, what can artistic destruction reveal to us?