Building a wunderkammer is a surrealist exercise, in a way,” Paris-based Amandine Urruty explains of the cabinet of curiosities motif that appears in her work. “I tend to gather objects I like, ‘90’s toys, luxury vases, miniature chairs and a bunch of skulls. The cabinet of curiosity is a decor, and each case of it is a decor inside the decor, where small characters play small sketches.”
One of Urruty’s most intriguing cabinets of curiosity is “Wonders,” an incredibly detailed charcoal and graphite drawing on paper with a nod to Raphael. It was originally made for the 2019 Dorothy Circus group show Mother & Child.
“It was obviously a kind of Madonna, holding a little boy, and surrounded by cute and creepy objects,” she says.
Both the mom and her son wear animal nose masks, a feature that turns up fairly often in Urruty’s work. Behind them, tiny vignettes play out in the meticulously organized clutter of the cabinet. A doll with a grown-up figure and Cabbage Patch Kid face poses as someone, or something, seemingly crawls out of the shelf from behind her. A chalk-style drawing of a house peeks out from behind a stack of dice, next to a skull with long, straight hair. You could spend hours staring at “Wonders,” trying to decipher all the strange scenarios within it. “I wanted to describe a nuanced approach of maternity, and confronting cuteness and fear was my way to do it,” Urruty explains.
“THE GHOST HAS BEEN MY COMPANION SINCE YEARS NOW, AS IT COULDN’T FIND A WAY TO LEAVE THE STAGE. AS A MODEL, IT WAS THE CREEPIEST AND YET MOST ACADEMICAL ONE. A REFERENCE TO RENAISSANCE DRAPES AND TO ALL MY BELOVED GHOULISH FIGURES.”
“I even remember I had to start “Wonders” again as I wasn’t happy with the first version!” Urruty recalls. In the end, it didn’t just make it into the group show, but became the cover of the artist’s most recent monograph, Made in the Dark.
Every few years, usually when she has a solo show in Paris, Urruty publishes a monograph, as a way for people to buy something during the exhibition, even if an original drawing is beyond their budget. “Each one of them is pretty different,” she says, adding that the project is often inspired by the publisher of the book. For Made in the Dark—her sixth tome—Urruty worked with Cernunnos, who was including the book as part of an existing series alongside titles from the likes of Mark Ryden, Ron English, Marion Peck, Mu Pan, Christian Rex Van Minnen, and others.
“It had to be a big book, a kind of retrospective of my fifteen years of activity,” Urruty explains. “So I decided to organize it in a reverse chronological way, sent them more than two hundred pictures and asked different people to write texts about my drawings and about when I met them. It was a huge work, and I’m really happy about it.” There were a few surprises while putting together the book. Artist Stephane Blanquet, with whom Urruty has collaborated, wrote a poem for her. Philippe Katerine, the famed French singer, responded quickly. “And it really had a personal meaning for me, as I started my public activity by doing body painting for him during some gig and media appearance,” Urruty notes.
The Model—Urruty’s solo show at Arts Factory in Paris—coincided with the release of the monograph, she put together a collection of more than fifty drawings, with two dating back to 2019 and most produced between 2020 and 2023.
“Concerning the themes, it depended on my mood,” she says of the show. “The thing is that I wanted to produce portraits, with more precision than I used to do, so I can make shiny fabrics, satin, and metal appear.”
A large graphite and charcoal piece bears the same title as the show. In it, two models pose seated with luxurious fabrics draped over them. “For me, the ideal model is covered with a sheet,” says Urruty. “The ghost has been my companion for years now, as it couldn’t find a way to leave the stage. As a model, it was the creepiest and yet most academical one. A reference to Renaissance drapes and to all my beloved ghoulish figures.” The covered models seem oblivious to the mess of toys and pottery surrounding them, let alone the severed head that sits on a table beneath a disco ball.
