Through trompe l’oeil bronze, Prune Nuorry blends human anatomy and tree roots – Colossal



Art

#anatomy #bronze #Prune Nuorry #sculpture #trees #trompe l’oeil

At the end of the Baroque work of Jean-Baptiste Lully Atys, the titular character transforms into a tree. This metamorphosis, the result of a spell cast by an agitated goddess, secures the fate of Earthbound Atys, merging human and plant life into one body.

French artist Prune Nuorry draws on this mythological allegory in a series that visualizes the hybrid form. Several feet tall to be lifelike or larger, a trio of bronze figures emerge through intricate webs that mimic both veins and branches, « fractal shapes that we can find at different scales in nature, » says the artist. Each sculpture references the form’s roots in operatic performance, and Nuorry painted the smooth metal in a trompe l’oeil style so that the works appear as if they were made of rope, used frequently in stage rigging. This illusory material also alludes to the connection between the infinitely large and the infinitely small, a concept often described in the framework of string theory.

Nuorry, who lives and works between New York and Paris, has long been interested in the body and how it interacts with the environment. You have recently completed a massive public work with a pregnant mother embedded in the earth, and previous projects include anatomical sculptures that similarly connect vein and branch. In his continuation In vitro series started in 2010, for example, Nuorry uses laboratory glass to create delicate and sprawling interpretations of human lungs and bodies. Overall, her practice « challenges the notion of balance and the ethical issues connected to it: the body and the healing process, the dangerous demographic imbalance due to (the) sex selection of children in some countries, the ecosystem and (the) interdependence between living species, » a declaration He says.

Last year, the artist collaborated on a performance by Atysand you can see the huge string setup he created for that production video under. Find more of her body projects at Instagram.

“Atys” at the National Assembly. Photo by Laurent Edéline

Detail of “Atys (1).” Photo by Annik Wetter

« Fractal Lungs » (2019), laboratory glass, 50 x 60 x 25 centimeters. Photo by Bertrand Huet All

« Atys ». Photo by Annik Wetter

« River Woman » (2019), borosilicate glass, 195 x 75 x 20 centimeters. Photo by Bertrand Huet All

Detail of « River Woman » (2019), borosilicate glass, 195 x 75 x 20 centimeters. Photo by Bertrand Huet All



#anatomy #bronze #Prune Nuorry #sculpture #trees #trompe l’oeil

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