Mary Goes Round
Most of the tribulations that Mary Sue endures obviously arise within a festive context, which leaves one to suppose that if the simplest activities of domestic life can be source of humiliation, it’s within a context of obligatory rejoicing that the worst is revealed. Birthday parties, Christmas parties, carrousels, fun-fair attractions… A party is definitely the place or the special moment for disenchantment, and to be disillusioned one doesn’t wait for the hangover to settle.
"She had been waiting for this moment for more than a year. It was to be this year’s day out ; her day out of the year. She had dreamt of that merry-go-round over and over again. Riding like a Dada girl and theoretically capable of competing with the most agile cowboy, Mary Sue would choose that pretty little jumper, hung like a stallion and shaped like the Ferrari horse, rearing up madly in a rodeo for a not-so-easy little girl. Her choice is made, and then it starts for five minutes, a short time that at her age means a lot ; the five minutes of happiness she’s been waiting for all her life! She knows how to ride, and it shows : she turns around, hands up ; she shouts and brushes with the odd fly passing by, she flits about and moves like a real cowgirl... Oh, what a great merry-go-round ! She rides high, Wild West style, and, to her own astonishment, rapturously pretends to shoot away. Maybe someone should tell her to go easy with the finger on the trigger… (You only see that in films, and what films at that !)
Once the ride is over, the whole scene looks like a battlefield ; a childhood Waterloo. The wooden horses that initially seemed so vigorous have turned into dead frozen animals, pierced by the poles that were already preventing them from escaping. Memories of toffee apple linger and they’re exhausted by the absurd and wild ride they’ve just had. They then no longer make heads spin, as a ilynx master should; instead we’re merely left hanging around them. The margin is narrow from toy to sculpture, and from that moment on they remain within an enclosed space, the opposite of the carrousel, flashy and sour like sweets, bearing within them the remains of something that would have reversed the roles. Those objects of pleasure (of childhood) diverted from their purpose and now useless have become mind games and frustrating toys..."
Mary Goes Round
Exhibition view of the installation (detail)
Sculptures fiber glass, high gloss finish
2009