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, his paintings and sculptures are already present in several institutional collections, such as that of the Bourse de Commerce.

In his painting, sculpture and installation work, Pol Taburet transforms the space into an interior inhabited by beings on the border between the human and the specter. The artist draws his inspiration both from his Guadeloupean heritage, paying homage to rites and figures linked to voodoo beliefs and practices, as well as from tales, cartoons and hip hop clips. Through flat areas of bright colors and bursts of light painted with an airbrush, Pol Taburet takes us into a world inhabited by fantastic and imaginary visions, between joy and fear.

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

His work has been shown in 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 Homestead, the KADIST Foundation, the Lafayette Anticipations Collection and the Pinault Collection. 

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

The limited edition of the same name is an Ultrachrome inkjet print, produced from the original work as part of a collaboration between Éditions Dilecta and the Pinault Collection.