Toys and a Knife (2022)

Pol Taburet was born in Paris in 1997, where he lives and works. A graduate of the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Cergy and winner of the Reiffers Art Initiatives prize in 2022, Pol Taburet has already made a name for himself with his powerful figurative work.

In his painting, sculpture and installation work, Pol Taburet transforms space into an interior inhabited by beings on the border between the human and the spectral. Pol Taburet's iconoclastic work draws on his Guadeloupean heritage, paying homage to the rites and figures associated with voodoo beliefs and practices, as well as fairy tales, cartoons, hip hop clips and the history of art — specifically artists such as Francis Bacon and Goya. Through the flat, bright colours that make up his backgrounds and the bursts of airbrushed light that form magical halos around his figures, Pol Taburet takes us into a world populated by fantastical, imaginary visions.

In Toys and a Knife, black faces in brightly coloured peaked hoods look as if they are about to emerge from the frame. As seductive as they are terrifying, these figures seem to be caught in a world straddling reality and dream, guarding a bed on which sex toys and a knife are placed. These objects, themselves inhabited by creatures representative of Pol Taburet's work, leave the viewer wondering about the scene depicted, somewhere between threat and grotesque, fear, and fantasy.

The limited edition of the same name is a print in ultraChrome pigment inks, produced from the original work as part of a collaboration between Éditions Dilecta and Pinault Collection to coincide with the group exhibition Le monde comme il va (The World as it Goes), in which the artist is taking part at the Bourse de Commerce until September 2nd, 2024.

Pol Taburet is represented by Galerie Mendes Wood DM (São Paulo, Brussels, Paris, New York) and Galerie Balice Hertling (Paris).

His work has been the subject of several solo exhibitions: galerie Mendes Wood DM (São Paulo, 2024); galerie Balice Hertling (Paris, 2023 and 2020); Lafayette Anticipations (Paris, 2023); galerie C L E A R I N G (Los Angeles, 2021). His work has also been shown in group exhibitions: Fondation d'entreprise Pernod Ricard (Paris, 2023); Dhaka Art Summit (Bangladesh, 2023); espace Niemeyer (Paris, 2022); Reiffers Art Initiatives (Paris, 2022). His work has been included in collections such as the Homestead Collection, the KADIST Foundation, the Lafayette Anticipations Collection, and the Pinault Collection.