Yahoo Lifestyle Ernesto Neto’s ‘Le La Serpent’ Exhibition Reinterprets the Myth of Adam and Eve
PARIS — Paris department store Le Bon Marché has a long history of working with artists, and this season tapped Brazilian sculptor Ernesto Neto for a monumental in-store exhibition, titled “Le La Serpent.”
Neto was given the design directive to create his installations in white, in honor of the household linen sales — known in France and the U.S as “white sales” — held the first month of each year. That tradition was started by store founder Aristide Boucicaut and continues to this day.
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Working in white was a change for Neto, who is known for his colorful crochet pieces. It was a bit of an adjustment from placing his enormous installations against the white walls of galleries. Thus, he flipped the story of Adam and Eve — which he prefers to call Eve and Adam — and approached the ancestral tale as one in which the snake was not the source of evil.
He sees the serpent as a symbol of the infinite, and a representative of nature.
“The serpent is a divine element, as the entity that gave birth to humanity,” Neto explained. “If they had not exchanged the fruit, if they did not bite the fruit from the knowledge tree, they would still be in Paradise today, and we wouldn’t be here. So it’s clear the serpent is the divine entity.”
The traditional story of Adam and Eve is also the basis for much of our society’s idea of “good and bad” that has pitted man against nature, and man against man, and culture against culture for centuries, he continued.
“There is another problem with the myth, because when they say that there is evil after they bit the fruit and got kicked out of Paradise, it [gives permission that] we can kill our neighbor, or we can be bad people because of that,” he said.
Neto believes that point of view “is a giant societal problem. It’s quite important for us to have a re-reading of this myth, to sprout more love and to reconnect ourselves with nature. It’s our responsibility.”
“Le La Serpent” is in line with Neto’s previous works, which frequently call upon people to reflect on their relationships with ecosystems and the planet. “It’s all about nature, the tension, the balance and the body — the connection between our body and the body of the Earth.”
Neto also acknowledged that the serpent features in creation myths across cultures, and has created an accompanying book, available on-site and by QR code, that delves into serpent stories around the world and which is translated into English, French and Portuguese.
His woven serpent wraps around the store’s central atrium from the main floor, with the tree of life sprouting under and rising to the ceiling. Elsewhere he occupies space on the second floor, as well as the windows facing Rue de Sèvres. Neto created the artworks in his studio in Brazil, before installing them in Paris.
Showing such an installation inside a department store might seem counterintuitive. Neto said that at first he debated it, then an idea that he originally had about a decade ago came to mind when he was walking on the beach. Suddenly he could see how the serpent could be brought to life in this space.
He then reflected on the current intersection of art and commerce. “It’s a place of objects and design,” he said, reeling off fashion items including clothes, jewelry, eyewear and shoes.
“All of that we use. As the cultural elements that we produce, this represents us. Pretty much in the art scene of today, we have the object being the most representative of our culture, and all discussion and the debate around it,” he said of the intersection between fashion design and creative arts.
He also found the location worked with his idea in another way — instead of colorful works against white gallery walls, here he created a white sculpture that stands out against the chaos of floors and goods for sale in a new way.
Having an exhibition in a department store also opens his work to people who might not regularly visit a gallery or museum. Neto relishes the idea of having the public be exposed to his work, so much so that he installed chalkboards so that visitors who are inspired can create their own sketches.
The opening event Tuesday night will be infused with Brazilian culture, including a contemporary music orchestra Onciem performing a piece with conductor Frédéric Blondy, Samba percussion performed by Ricardo Cotrim accompanied by dancers, and Huni Kuin indigenous musician Txanabané.
Neto might be famous for his work in crochet, but he knitted it all together with music. The artist wrote, composed and recorded a song to share his interpretation of the serpent story, which will be available to all visitors to download. To emphasize the ties of all people, he sang it in French.
The exhibit will run until Feb. 23.
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