Bertrand Lavier

For the series Walt Disney Productions, Bertrand Lavier mines Mickey and Minnie Mouse comic strips for images of abstract and modern art, and recreates these cartoon objects as paintings and sculptures. For this exhibition, Lavier explored the inclusion of art to live-action Disney films, appropriating the “balloon painting” from Garry Marshall’s The Princess Diaries (2001). A vague homage to Niki de Saint Phalle’s Shooting Picture series from the early ’60s, the creation of the painting, made by throwing darts at paint-filled balloons, provides an opportunity for the film’s teenage protagonist to bond with her eccentric artist mother.

Bertrand Lavier (1949, France) lives and works in Paris and Aignay-le-Duc, France. His exhibitions include Bertrand Lavier, Bourse de Commerce, Pinault Collection, Paris, France (2021); Bernier Eliades, Athens, Greece (2019); Kamel Mennour, Paris (2019); Medley, Espace Louis Vuitton Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan (2018); Hier, Oggi, Massimo De Carlo, Milan, Italy (2018); Walt Disney Productions, Kamel Mennour, London, UK; Walt Disney Productions, Kunstmuseum Luzern, Switzerland (2017); A Cappella, Almine Rech Gallery, Paris (2017); Merci Raymond, Monnaie de Paris, Paris (2016); Walt Disney Series, Xavier Hufkens, Brussels, Belgium (2016); La Vénus d’Amiens, Palais de Tokyo, Paris; and Bertrand Lavier, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz, Liechtenstein (2016). In 2012, a major retrospective of his work was held at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. His work is included in the public collections of Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan; Daimler Contemporary, Berlin, Germany; and Centre Pompidou, among others.