Artist: Karl Larsson
Exhibition title: Camilla
Venue: Shanaynay, Paris, France
Date: October 20 – November 13, 2016
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Shanaynay
In Virgil’s Aeneid, Camilla, the infant daughter of King Metabus and Casmilla is saved from an angry lynch mob by her father who ties her to a spear and throws her over the river Amasenus. While wobbling through the air she dreams of warm milk, chocolate and formless horror.
In a drawing, made by a three year old girl, spatiality escapes definition. Before natural science has engraved a grid of reason, before all prosaic facts, rain is an event surrounding a child like a halo and a cat may take a walk in a human voice.
Destruction of worlds, outside of the room. Destruction of rooms. Some children end up floating in the Mediterranean sea. They appear, then disappear, re-appear and start circulating. Sometimes a baby spins and spins until many years have passed. I don’t want to ask myself what conclusion there is to draw from all the data in the world. I want to ask what there is to unlearn from what is disappearing in front of our eyes?
Karl Larsson, This is me. This is the rain. This is a cat. This is its daily walk. This is a dog. And all of this I don’t remember anymore, 2016, handtufted wool, 200 x 300 cm
Karl Larsson, Home is upside down (uv), 2016, rubber boat cover, uv paint, 80 x 54 cm; This year or last (Camilla’s poem), 2016, concrete, photocopier, Camilla’s poem, paint
Karl Larsson, Blanket for sleepers, sculptors, smokers, helpers and children in swallow waters, 2016; Home is upside down (neon), 2016, rubber boat cover, acrylic paint, 80 x 54 cm
Karl Larsson, This year or last (Camilla’s poem), 2016, concrete, photocopier, Camilla’s poem, paint
Karl Larsson, Home is upside down (blue), 2016, rubber boat cover, acrylic paint, 80 x 54 cm
