Pol Taburet

I want the work to be legible through a child’s eyes, for them to see something joyful and fun inside of it, and for adults to have a much more intense understanding of what’s being presented. – Pol Taburet

Pol Taburet’s work is a heady and iconoclastic mix of references that range from the artist’s own Caribbean background, the region’s synchretic voodoo traditions and belief systems, wider contemporary culture, as well as classical painting. Born in 1997, the artist has rapidly gained attention with his idiosyncratic painterly style, which he has developed by incorporating the use of airbrushing alongside traditional brush painting with acrylic colors. The formal result is a unique contraposition of textures and finishings, of painstaking detail, “impressionistic” suggestion and symbolism.

This double technique, an amalgamation of old and new, can be viewed as symbolic of Taburet’s work as a whole. The freshness of this subject matter, which somehow feels entirely new, combined with an undeniably youthful and energetic aesthetic, is underpinned by influences that firmly belong to the traditional canon of art history. From Francis Bacon to Baroque and religious art, these influences are all visible but his work is not subjugated to them. His twisted figures, which often appear as hybrids between human and animal, stand out against starkly abstract backgrounds. Taburet says his subjects speak of life and death, and the passage from one to the other. In their own way, his paintings hold a spiritual quality that is hard to define, and which might not be immediately apparent. An instinctive artist, Taburet’s themes, forms, compositions and even meaning often reveal themselves to him as he paints.

Pol Taburet (b. 1997, Paris, France) lives and works in Paris.

Pol Taburet attained his bachelor’s and graduate degrees at École Nationale Supérieure d’Arts de Paris-Cergy. His recent solo exhibitions have been at SONGEUN Art and Cultural Foundation, Seoul (2024); Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo (2024); Pivô, São Paulo (2023); Lafayette Anticipations, Paris (2023); Balice Hertling, Paris (2022); C L E A R I N G, Los Angeles (2021). His work has been included in group shows at Espace Niemeyer, Paris (2022); Gladstone Gallery, New York (2022); Reiffers Art Initiatives, Paris (2022); Worst Case Scenario, Paris (2021); Drawing a Blank, Paris (2021); Let us in III, Clichy (2019); and Let us in I, Clichy (2018). His work is also included in public collections such as the Pinault Collection and Lafayette Anticipations.