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Back To The Future! Safe European Home 1938 (DML/MM 47)

Damian Le Bas | Back To The Future! Safe European Home 1938 (DML/MM 47) | object (art) | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland | 2013 | vis_10000

Rights held by: Daiman Le Bas (artwork) — Diego Castallano Cano (photo) | Licensed by: Delaine Le Bas — Galerie Kai Dikhas | Licensed under: CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International International | Provided by: Galerie Kai Dikhas (Berlin/Germany)

Damian Le Bas | Back To The Future! Safe European Home 1938 (DML/MM 47) | object (art) | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland | 2013 | vis_10000 Rights held by: Daiman Le Bas (artwork) — Diego Castallano Cano (photo) | Licensed by: Delaine Le Bas — Galerie Kai Dikhas | Licensed under: CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International International | Provided by: Galerie Kai Dikhas (Berlin/Germany)

Credits

Rights held by: Daiman Le Bas (artwork) — Diego Castallano Cano (photo) | Licensed by: Delaine Le Bas — Galerie Kai Dikhas | Licensed under: CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International International | Provided by: Galerie Kai Dikhas (Berlin/Germany)

Contextualisation

The work Back To The Future! Safe European Home 1938 is one of the most popular works by Damian Le Bas and title image of the travelling group exhibition Akathe Te Beshen. It has been shown at many exhibitions. The artist paints over a map of Europe with numerous smiling faces. At the same time it seems as if Damian Le Bas himself takes possession of Europe, showing it no longer as a structure of confined states but as one consisting of (laughing) people – ’Gypsies everywhere‘, Roma everywhere. The picture has some details that represent the artist’s typical wit, such as the representation of Ireland (homeland of his family) as a flying Teddy Bear or, at the bottom of the picture, the representation of a caravan by the Tabbert company, appreciated as a status symbol in Traveller circles. With the title and the year 1938, the year this historical map went to press, the artist refers to the imminent danger of a Europe before potential collapse, analogous to the Europe before the Second World War. The work, which has been carefully worked out and is aesthetically pleasing, is thus to be understood as a warning by the artist. It is part of the most important series of installations and exhibitions by the artist couple Damian and Delaine Le Bas, to whom he gave the name Safe European Home?, inspired by The Clash title.

Moritz Pankok (2018)

Details

Production
2013
Production Credits
Object Category
Object Number
vis_10000

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