For his first solo exhibition in Germany, Pol Taburet (*1997, France) is showing a series of new paintings and bronze sculptures in a scenography specially designed for the venue.
Image gallery
Pol Taburet A man, a wolf trap and a stone in a room, 2025
Transformation, identity and the interplay of light and shadow are recurring themes in his oeuvre. Taburet's unmistakable visual language combines influences from classical painting, surrealism and symbolism and manifests itself in hybrid figures that exist in an ambivalent ‘in-between space’.
The architecture of the Schinkel Pavilion - hermetically sealed off from the environment on the ground floor and open to the outside space through glass on the upper floor - aptly reflects the contrasts in Taburet's work - between inside and outside, concealment and revelation. His pictorial worlds show creatures that combine human and animal attributes, depicted through a mixture of sprayed colour gradients and precise brushstrokes. These hybrid figures oscillate between presence and absence, reflecting Taburet's interest in fluid identities and psychological states. The bronze sculptures on display transfer his visual language into three-dimensional space by taking up themes of metamorphosis or duality.
The exhibition takes its title from the legend of Papa Tonnerre, a mute figure who is heavily burdened with the secrets of others. Shrouded in silence, Papa Tonnerre inevitably becomes the confessor of his village and carries the burden of desires, vices and fears on his shoulders. To escape his fate, he makes a pact with a witch: in exchange for a series of stolen relics - a bell, a trumpet, a vial with an animal head and some pepper - he regains his ability to speak. But his newfound voice ultimately proves to be his undoing: in his anger at the villagers, he betrays those who once trusted him and blurts out their darkest secrets to the world. For this betrayal, he is banished into exile, where he remains, condemned to speak forever into the void, never to be heard again.
The exhibition is made possible by the generous support of Mendes Wood DM. We would also like to thank the Trampoline Association and the Institut Français Deutschland / Bureau des arts plastiques for their support.
Pol Taburet -
The Burden of Papa Tonnerre
29.03.-13.07.2025Opening: 28.03.2025, 6 pm
Opening hours
Thursday and Friday 2pm-7pm
Saturday and Sunday 11am - 7pm
