Décadence Programmée

Décadence Programmée, 2019 - 2020 Bronze (215 x 80 x 25 cm)

«Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. So passes the glory of this world. »

Since 2014 I started working with various plants. One of them is Agave. Originating from Mexico it was implanted in the Mediterranean over 500 years ago. The main stalk can reach up to eight meters, spreading on a three to four meter range at its peak. In my youth, I used to carve sentences in the skin’s leaf, scaring the thick fiber as many lovers do down south, wishing to leave a trace of their passage. I see it as a “Past-post” endlessly informing. It is said that the body of plants recall the passage of time, the weather and external influences consequently modifying their shape. Monocarpic, this plant flourishes only once during a span of 15 years, signaling its end of life, hence its name “Flower of death”. This ultimate transformation is understood as a metaphor to adolescence and first romances. In this artwork I previously took an Agave leaf scaring it with the sentence “I love you”, then exhibiting it. Once the scar was closed I made a bronze cast, freezing in time its decay and decadence.