Davide Balula Transforms Gallery into Greenhouse for Buried Paintings

At Galerie Frank Elbaz in Paris, Davide Balula presents an exhibition from April 21 to June 16, 2012, where he transforms the gallery space into a greenhouse for cultivating paintings. Several tons of soil are brought in, covering the floor with a thick bed of earth topped by a wooden grate. The remaining width offers a cross-section view of the setup. Visitors climb two steps onto a platform where various-sized trapdoors are set into the raw wood slats. Beneath these slats, linen canvases are buried and will be unearthed at the exhibition's close. The composition on the floor appears to have slid from the wall, as the trapdoor sizes correspond to the future paintings' formats. This work references Balula's 2009 installation American Wall Nut, where he slid brown wooden slats from floor to wall, replacing them with white slats on the ground. Here, the slippage is metaphorical. The experience is paired with a culinary variation titled I Swallowed (2012), created with chef Agata Felluga, which opens and closes the exhibition. Guests partake in a progressive tasting of foods evoking plant growth—from soil to fruit, including bulbs, roots, and stems. The burial ultimately exudes a vital force, creating an ecosystem where matter can develop on the canvas. The text is by Audrey Illouz.