Image: Philippe Katerine, Mr Rose – selfie, 2022, resin. Courtesy Edie Editions and Renting Art © DR
The exhibition brings together nearly 300 works spanning painting, sculpture, photography, video, objects, film, books and installations, offering a journey through the history of art from antiquity to the present day.
It investigates art’s emotional power through animals, the history of pink, glitter in art and contemporary notions of cute and kawaii, examining the origins and evolution of the aesthetic of the adorable, its capacity to bring joy and comfort, and the strength of tenderness as a response to the upheavals of the world.
Examples range from delicate portraits by Théodore Géricault and Auguste Renoir to smooth, brightly coloured creatures by Jeff Koons, Philippe Katerine and Will Cotton; the exhibition also includes the loves of Nicolas Poussin, tributes by Rosa Bonheur, Agnès Varda and William Wegman to their four-legged companions, Cindy Sherman in pink as Madame de Pompadour, a florist’s portrait by Pierre and Gilles, and unsettling plush works by Annette Messager.
Behind its apparent innocence, the aesthetic of the cute can become a tool of consumption or propaganda, while soft, childlike forms can also take on a critical or political dimension when contemporary works divert cute’s codes to question social violence, gender identities and the vulnerabilities of the present world.
Participatory elements invite visitors of all ages to experience directly the feelings generated by the works.
