Access a slow-looking exercise of this work.

Transcript
Narrator: "Oh! Les Beaux Jours" is a work by Maro Michalakakos from 2012. The installation is composed of two huge mounds that rise to a height of over 12 feet, created entirely from pinkish-purple polyester fiber. Upon close inspection, the fiber resembles wispy felt pieces, like collected dryer lint or pulled cotton balls, material with an individual lightness but an accumulated weight and density.

The color appears to change depending on our vantage point, and the individual pieces range in tone from lighter to darker burgundy. Each conical mound widens to a base of around 10 feet in diameter. The two mountains sit about 5 feet apart from one another as if in conversation. Their bases are rounded against the floor, the polyester fiber neatly touching it. At the top, a more organic edge encircles a gallery column that pierces vertically through each sculpture’s middle. It’s as if the mounds are living plants spreading up around the columns.

Near the mounds, about five small heaps of the material, up to about a foot in any direction, are tucked into crevices at the base of surrounding gallery walls, and a small pile builds up in a corner, as if they have escaped the large mounds. Above the work, in a small alcove housing a ceiling light, a line of fibrous material gathers like dust along a rafter or a wispy cloud hovering above us.

At this large scale, the installation forms an imposing yet soft presence. The calming hue and fluffy texture appear inviting, as if one could sink into it like a leaf pile. Alternatively, the mounds could be interpreted as piles of debris and dust, as if someone has just finished sweeping the floors, piles that we wouldn’t want to disturb.

This contradiction is echoed in the artwork title. "Oh! Les Beaux Jours," or “happy days,” is adopted from the work of Samuel Beckett, whose play by the same name was first performed in 1961.

A woman is trapped up to her waist within an earthen mound. She continues to attempt her daily routines, such as brushing her teeth and reviewing the contents of her bag, while speaking with her husband who is nearby. By the second act, she is buried up to her neck within the mound yet continues to repeat “Oh, this is a happy day.” Like Beckett’s couple, these two mounds remain close yet never touch, leaving us with questions about their relationship.

Did these mounds once touch and now exist separately? Are they in conversation with each other? Do they evoke growth or deterioration?

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