Peter Buggenhout's 'Neither Fish nor Fowl' at Galerie Laurent Godin

Peter Buggenhout, born in 1963 in Belgium, presents an exhibition titled 'Ni chair ni poisson' (Neither Fish nor Fowl) at Galerie Laurent Godin in Paris from October 19 to November 23, 2013. The show features about ten sculptures displayed under vitrines, reminiscent of a natural history museum. Buggenhout aims to create sculptures that resemble nothing, using accumulation and aggregation of waste materials bound with ties and enclosed in nets, resulting in repulsive, formless bundles. The works are grouped into series: 'The Blind Leading the Blind' (after Brueghel) made from dust and debris collected at the port of Ghent, including metal rods, sheet metal, and driftwood covered in dust or tar; 'Gorgo' incorporating horsehair and blood-stained debris, referencing the terrifying face of Medusa and the birth of art through Perseus; and 'Mont Ventoux' using cow stomachs filled with cotton, alluding to Petrarch's oversight of the mountain he stood on. Buggenhout's method is improvisational, without preparatory drawings or models, and evokes Nouveau Réalisme (Arman) and Combine Paintings, as well as archaeological excavation or lunar rock discovery.