Banana Head

From November 11 to December 20, 2024

Multidisciplinary French artist Gilles Barbier is known for his numerous wax clones that are represented in a burlesque manner. The banana has been a recurring element in Gilles Barbier’s vocabulary since the early 2000s. Not only does it refer to humor, falls and gags, but for the artist, the banana is also one of the elements that come into play in the notion of slipping.

The Banana Head (Traumatic Insemination) is particularly representative of the artist’s obsession with this motif. In 2010, the artist took on the classic exercise of self-portraiture and created with self-mockery a series of busts of himself that he “mistreats”, cuts into pieces (Butter Head), crushes (Squeezed Head), lobotomizes (Peanut Head), or finally “inseminates” in the case of Banana Head