Look Behind The Curtain

If we follow the imperative of Look Behind the Curtain, by 2013 Turner Prize winner Laure Prouvost, a group of twenty small paintings are revealed. Executed in thick oil paint on wooden panel, each depicts a cheerful pink bum on a black or brown background. Some are affixed straight to the wall; some are leant against it from the floor; still others are attached to the wall with brass hinges, with abstract bursts of black impasto on their reverse. When the black curtain is closed, the mystery is restored. With a background in conceptual art and video work, Prouvost cheekily toys with our expectations of art expressing any grand existential concerns: behind the curtain her paintings moon us, and behind the paintings themselves there is only further obscurity. Their subject – not to mention their concealment behind the curtain – hints at a private narrative we can only wonder at. This playful installation expresses the simple joy of creation, and the fun of letting the audience impart significance through their own responses to the work. ‘The viewer’s the boss,’ says Prouvost. ‘This idea that the artist is not in control – I really love that. At the end of the day, you can’t control an artwork. Look at Picasso: his works are now all on mugs!’