Laure Prouvost: A Way To Leak, Lick, Leek

"When we move by night at the speed of desire
With you at the wheel my limit goes higher
Just turn me on, you turn me on
You are my petrol, my drive, my dream, my exhaust"

Fahrenheit is delighted to present A Way to Leak, Lick, Leek, Laure Prouvost's first solo presentation in Los Angeles. Drawing from desire, oneirism, and a fantasized depiction of nature, Prouvost’s immersive films and installations challenge the relationship between language and understanding through complex stories and surreal moments with her unusual approach to cinematic conventions and imagery. Prouvost’s attention to her environment, as well as the natural and human elements surrounding her, comprise the primary material of her work.

A Way to Leak, Lick, Leek is the outcome of Prouvost’s residency at Fahrenheit completed in the spring of 2015, and is the counterpart of the artist’s project presented last year at Musée départemental d'art contemporain de Rochechouart in France. The exhibition results in a site-specific installation of films, sculptures, and drawings utilizing elemental material found within Los Angeles—flora, fauna, smells, sounds, abandoned objects, and the vertiginous light of L.A.

Laure Prouvost constructs an immersive environment in which her works become central ploys in a scenario that explores the boundaries of fantastic and urban escapism. Her series of drawings and films reflect a delineated urban experience made of driving in L.A. and breathing in petrol and plastic smells. For her main installation, Prouvost coated the floor of the gallery space with blue resin, ornamenting its surface with shattered technological junk, abandoned tropical trees, floating pineapples, and branches of tumble weeds—an apocalyptic vision reminiscent of a private pool the morning after a wild night. In her new video, A Lick to The Past, filmed last spring in Downtown Los Angeles, she employs tropes both derived from and challenging the filmic languages of cinema and art. Adolescent Angelinos and their collective performance constitute an amateur form, on an improvisational level, acting on a parking lot to the sound of an original hip-hop track specially composed by L.A.-based producer WYNN for the exhibition. These stars of the outtake bring corrupt reveries to life through humor and mistranslations.

Curated by Martha Kirszenbaum

Laure Prouvost was born in 1961 in Uhnreka, USSR. She lives and works in a trailer moving from urban to rural environment, currently in the Croatian desert. Solo exhibitions include We Would Be Floating Away from the Dirty Past at the Haus Der Kunst, Munich (2016), We Will Go Far at Musée Départemental d’Art Contemporain de Rochechouart, Rochechouart (2015), It, Heat, Hit at e-flux, New York (2015), Dear dirty dark drink drift down deep droll (in der dole) at carlier | gebauer, Berlin (2015), Der Öffentlichkeit — Von Den Freunden Haus Der Kunst at Haus der Kunst, Munich (2015), For Forgetting at New Museum, New York (2014), From Wantee to Some Signs at Extra City Kunsthal, Antwerp (2014); Laure Prouvost / Adam Chodzko at Tate Britain, London (2013); All These Things Think Link at Flat Time House, London (2010); It, Heat, Hit at Art Now Lightbox, Tate Britain, London (2010). Group shows include The Great Acceleration at the Taipei Biennial (2014); Portraits d’Intérieurs at the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco; and Assembly: A Survey of Recent Artists’ Film and Video in Britain 2008–2013 at Tate Britain, London (2013). Provoust received the Max Mara Art Prize for Women in 2011 and the Turner Prize in 2013.

About Fahrenheit
Fahrenheit is a non-profit initiative dedicated to research and creation in the field of contemporary art. Conceived by FLAX and developed by director and curator Martha Kirszenbaum, it is an interrelated residency program and a space dedicated to exhibitions, performances, film programs and talks. It supports the exchange and integration of France-related artists, curators and critics with a particular emphasis on outreach programs in communities within greater Los Angeles.

About FLAX
FLAX (France Los Angeles Exchange) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) charity based in Los Angeles. Founded in 2006, FLAX works to facilitate cultural exchange between Los Angeles and France through public and cultural events in Southern California. Recognizing and reinforcing the crucial links between these two cultural epicenters, FLAX works closely with local organizations, pooling private and corporate resources to foster cultural dialogue between French and American people in the United States. With its independent structure, FLAX operates with autonomy and transparency. Operating costs have been reduced to a minimum in order to turn the maximum of donations into efficient programs.
www.flaxfoundation.org

Media contact: fahrenheit@flaxfoundation.org

The exhibition was made possible by generous support from the Institut Français.