Senses March 2011 – San Francisco – Alexis Laurent

Second Nature of Alexis Laurent

On a spring day with glorious weather, I am inside writing on my computer, thinking about Alexis Laurent, an artist who would most certainly want me to be outside, enjoying the first sprouts of green on the trees. I am an urbanite, a city-dweller, practically immune to the glories of nature, only aware that winter has turned into spring by the fact that I can trade in my snow boots for more comfortable shoes. Laurent, on the other hand, is out there, choosing plants for his next series of sculptures and surveying tree trunks for materials for his next installations. He is an artist who increasingly incorporates nature into his dynamic art works, asking viewers, like myself, to take the time to appreciate wonders that they would ordinarily overlook in a city setting.

Inspired by both industrial hardware and living botanicals, Laurent establishes a dialogue between the two, making works that are simultaneously practical and whimsical, meditative and exuberant, independent and engaging. He builds welded steel frameworks, larger-than-life, inviting audience interaction. Then he adds succulents and air plants, creating idiosyncratic ecosystems that will evolve over time. These are art works perfectly suited for a society that is increasingly concerned with issues of sustainability. Laurent offers a plan for greening the urban environment--what he likes to call "green scars"--replacing the scourge of shopping malls and traffic snarls that have come to represent the metropolis with sites for the contemplation of nature that would be perfectly suited as 21st century commons.

Born in 1969, Laurent's appreciation of nature stems back to his childhood in the south of France, living with parents who were jewelry designers. He watched his father build their house by hand, over the course of twenty years, giving him a familiarity with and affinity for construction.

"It’s a stamp for life. So much of my inspiration comes from that time in my father’s workshop. My love for metal comes from the time when my mother was doing enamel. Matisse said that he spent his entire life trying to be a kid again. I think it’s very true. Again, you have the discipline, because you’re an adult. But so much of the pleasure is to let go of the discipline and enjoy being a child again."

Alexis Laurent

In 2003, at the age of 34, he decided to take a sabbatical from work and reconsider his life. He returned to France for three years, with his wife and his first child, and he began to paint. It was only in 2009 after finding his current studio, an 18,000 sq. ft. industrial space in the Mission District, where he took up sculpture. In just two years, he has proven that he could excel at this medium, filling his studio and then galleries with his monumental creations.

"Calder said that there are artists who are looking, and artists who are seeing. Looking artists want to fit everything into a framework. But artists who are seeing want to be surprised, by materials, by textures. They’re always discovering.”

Alexis Laurent

In many ways, this artist invites viewers to do as he did: take time out to reconsider the possibilities of life. In one of his earlier works, he exhorted visitors to "be a flâneur," in other words, a wanderer, loafer, or stroller, taking in the city with a heightened sense of curiosity. A flâneur, as described by Charles Baudelaire, is a creative individual as well as a product of modern society, a precursor to a tourist but much more than a sightseer. A flâneur takes time to smell the roses and makes time to waste an afternoon. Laurent knows from experience that none of this is a waste of time; that a life in the arts can come from a hiatus from work.

When I look at Alexis Laurent's artworks, I am reminded by a quote from Henry David Thoreau:

If a man walks in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer. But if he spends his days as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making the earth bald before her time, he is deemed an industrious and enterprising citizen.

Laurent urges us to take the risk of being called a loafer, rather than succumb to the social pressures that turn us into speculators. He inserts nature into his art works precisely because in a return to the natural world, we have the chance to discover alternative ways of thinking and developing. Yet, he allows the industrial elements in his work to play an equal role, knowing full well that in this day and age it is impossible for any of us to inhabit a fully natural state. Whether we are talking about local food sources, sustainable energy, homeopathic medicine or green belts, we are always abiding in the realm of the man-made, no longer able to replicate Thoreau's woods.

Take, for example, Laurent’s delightful and playful Dandelions, 2011, an installation of steel-framed globes covered in sprigs of air plants. More than forty of these forms dangle from the ceiling, very much like dandelion puffs blowing in the wind. In one way, they are like air-borne topiaries. At the same time, these orbs of greenery are also reminiscent of dance hall disco balls with plants replacing the mirrored tiles.

Or consider Billboard, 2011, a 30-foot long wall of Corten steel with 1,280 succulents embedded in its miniature balconies. Laurent

intentionally chose plants that would be sustainable in California where he made the piece, limiting his selection to ten species that would easily survive indoors in potted soil. He also trained his eye on the color of the plants, avoiding hues of maroon that would blend in with the wall as it aged, choosing instead sage, grey and greens and a few flowering plants. The piece is a fantasy of a billboard by a highway, devoid of text yet delivering a message about the environment with its array of flora.

In making work like these, Laurent aligns himself with artists who are developing experiential artworks that encompass senses beyond that of sight. Olafur Eliasson, whose retrospective show was titled Take Your Time (keenly similar to Laurent's call to Be a Flâneur), featured one work, which was a wall, made of moss whose hues, texture and scent evoked his native Iceland. Laurent has also been influenced by French botanist-artist Patrick Blanc whose vertical garden for the Foundation Cartier in Paris in 1997 revolutionized the field of tropical plant display.

But, as sophisticated as they are, Laurent's ideas never overtake his interest in form and materials. In Book of Nature, 2010, this artist achieves a perfect balance between natural and man-made materials. With three enormous slices of a redwood trunk. standing more than ten feet tall and held together by a system of steel hinges, the sculpture opens up the interior of the tree like pages of a medieval text. Instead of words, we have the burls in the wood, revealing the history of the tree to those who can read the signs. In Saw, 2010, Laurent makes a line of redwood tiles look as if they are flying through the air, cut in half by a steel wall standing on the floor. It is a magical moment, created by the perfect pairing of wood and steel.

Laurent achieves these results working intuitively, rather than planning every detail from the outset. It was almost by accident that he made his monumental spider, L'Araignée, 2010, as he worked with a team to move a battery of Corten steel rectangles into place. Noticing that the forms were tipping to the left, he began to add another "leg" on the right. Slowly, the piece took the shape of a spider, stretching 27 feet long and 20 feet wide. This is another of his living sculptures, as plants punctuate the surface of the steel. It is also just large enough to invite engagement, encouraging people to circle the forms and walk underneath.

It is fascinating that Laurent, who has barely been a sculptor two years, already has a innate sense of creating public art works. His works would be particularly suited for public forums and they already engage the public on a level that is highly interactive, even including an olfactory element. In iSense, 2010, Laurent mimics the headset of an iPod, but fills the "earphones" with dried lavender, allowing viewers to experience the scent as they walk through the sculpture. Even more impressive is his work, Bracelets, 2010, a pair of steel semi-circles, as large as phone booths. These are intended to be filled with plants, so that the audience can enter them and experience a garden-like atmosphere. Perfectly suited for an urban setting, Laurent imagines them to be a refuge and escape for commuters leaving a subway station or rushing to their next appointment.

Laurent has developed so rapidly as an artist that it is only with anticipation that I look forward to his next work. In this case, he tells

me he will explore the sense of smell with olfactory artworks inspired by perfume bottles. Scent is an aspect of experience often overlooked in contemporary art, though increasingly artists have ventured into this arena. Ernesto Neto makes huge installations with biomorphic forms made out of hose-like fabrics carrying spices. Peter de Cupere has made, among many other works, a sculpture of a tree trunk embedded with the scents of the forest, including mushrooms, fungus and grass. Gayle Nails has even come up with a universal scent, by soliciting contributions from every country on the planet of their iconic smell--jasmine for China, pine for the United States--and blending them together.

The 18th-century philosopher Immanuel Kant once said that "art has no smell," elevating sight above the other senses. Laurent has placed himself among a group of artists who are reversing this prejudice by incorporating the other senses into their work. Scent can be a powerful component in contemporary art, infusing a work with undertones of memory, nostalgia and even romance. Scent can magically infect viewers--or should we call them "experiencers"--with subtle emotions, stirring recollections buried deep in their subconscious. And as contemporary life takes us farther and farther away from unprocessed experiences, this return to nature has been the point of Laurent's work all along.

I asked Laurent what he wants from his art and he replied,

"This is the first time in history that the world is more urban than rural. So how do you make the urban world a livable place? If you don’t crack the code of how to make cities livable, you’re missing the point. So many cities have no center. There’s no cohesion, no reason for them. So I want to humanize cities. Maybe I won’t have an impact. Maybe no one will. But it’s a good fight." In a way, Alexis Laurent's artworks are an antidote to an antiseptic life, mediated by digital interactions and inundated by the pressures of urbanity. His desire to create "green scars" across the city landscape is admirable and certainly seems achievable with his living sculptures. He is undeniably a risk taker, mixing in elements such as plants or smells with materials more suited to formalist abstractions. But, perhaps the riskiest element in his work is the way he invites, no insists, that viewers take the risk with him. He asks us to join in, to take a deep breath, to take the time to take the time. The fact that so many willingly participate in his explorations and discoveries is a testament to his talent as an artist.

Barbara PollackContributing editor to ARTnews Magazine

Writes frequently on contemporary art

A huge thank you goes out to:!

Leila, owner of LTMH Gallery, and her entire staff for making this show possible. She is a fantastic partner and mentor, always ready to discover uncharted territories with me.

I would also like to thank:

•!Barbara Pollack for capturing so well in her introductory essay what I am all about

•!Edwin Monzon, Jesus (aka Chucho) Lopez and Steve Eung who show up every single day at 7 a.m. to dive into new waters with me

•!Olivier Bonin of Madnomad Films who continues to be everywhere -- capturing the work and the event on film in the most dynamic way

•!Rob Schroeder for the beautiful photos that fill this book

•!Stefan Kirkeby at Smith Andersen North whose life-force, curatorial savvy, and incredible eye shaped the show

•!Art Wilinsky, friend and upstairs neighbor,!whose!impromptu art critiques and support have had a major impact on the work in this show

•!Eric Heid of Martin Heid Design/Build for!his invaluable input!and being the best friend a man could have!

•!And, above all to my family: my parents, who let me spend my entire childhood in the trees or with a hammer in my hand; my in-laws,!Cathy and Peter whose own!artistic life, love for nature, and life-philosophy inspire me and provide incredible mentorship!and Jimmy and Pamela for their incredible guidance, helpfulness and enthusiasm;!to my children Tia and Oliver, for whom I hope to make the world a more beautiful and human place; and, of course,!to Liza, my wonderful wife, whose!love, ideas, and excitement about my work are pillars that support everything that I do.

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On the event side, I want to thank Morgan Doan of Morgan Events and all the partners for making the opening night such a success with fantastic food, cocktails, and music.!!!Your work helped to create such a vibrant energy around the show, shared by everyone in the room.!

Finally, I want to thank my guests for bringing my work to life. When I have a new sculpture idea, it usually wakes me up in the middle of the night … I then let it mature for days before I am ready to build it. But, it is never really finished until I share it with others. Thanks to all the people who attended the opening and for giving me the gift of sharing my work.!!

To All of You, THANK YOU!

Alexis Laurent

www.alexislaurent.comalexis@laurentstudio.com