ART CITIES:Paris-Abigail DeVille

Abigail DeVille’s work is comprised of archaeological constructs imbued with cultural and historical cues, referencing canonical sculptures from recent art history, contemporary social issues, and the movement of solar bodies. She is concerned with narratives of displacement and marginalization, and through her sprawling installations and sculptures, she gives pronounced physical presence to “invisible people” within the privileged space of institutions.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Michel Rein Gallery Archive

For her solo exhibition “America”, Abigail DeVille pays homage to America and to those who created it, from pre-Columbian cultures to slaves of African origin, via French overseas colonies through to invisible minorities of today. In order to do this, she radically modifies the exhibition space. The artist uses architectural debris or domestic waste, whatever the street gives to her, she gives it back with her punchy works. As she puts it “I’m interested in telling invisible histories, about groups of people that occupy the space that no longer exists“. Drawing inspiration from Mayan pyramids, Abigail DeVille scatters the space with pyramidal structures rising from the ground or falling from the ceiling. In her sculptures, installations and environments, the artist therefore questions everyone’s place in society, but above all the absence of place that some are victims of, those that society cannot or will not see, the excluded, whoever they are. These site specific creations, , taking deeply into account the context they are met with, speak an urban language, that of deprived neighborhoods of poverty and the struggle of minorities to exist. However, it’s also a theatrical work, staging current problems. Her constructions are all pretences of archaeological research, rich in historical, cultural and societal references; whereas her opaque installations are the reflection of repression and discrimination issues.

Info: Michel Rein Gallery, 42 rue de Turenne, Paris, Duration: 22/10-19/12/15, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 11:00-19:00, http://michelrein.com