Marilla Palmer in Fontenay

This exhibition was inspired by Fontenay, the fictitious residence of Des Esseintes in the book "Against Nature" written by Joris Karl Huysmans in 1884 .
When Sue Scott of One Eye Pug asked me to curate a show I immediately thought of this book and asked nine unrepresented artists if they would participate. When I emailed excerpts from the book to them I got some interesting reactions. (The excerpts and comments are below. ) Some were excited and said it really fit in with their thoughts on their work, and some of the artists were initially repelled until I told them how it ends. One artist withdrew because the book had had such a negative impact on a friend who became obsessed with it.

Reading Against Nature again after several decades. I found some surprising initial parallels to my life. At the death of his parents Des Esseintes inherited some money and did the obvious thing: he bought a house and started renovating. But Des Esseintes had an insanely meticulous attention to detail, each room was like a sculptural installation. For example the dining room gave the illusion of being in a ship at sea. The porthole windows were like thin aquariums. Mechanical fishes floated by occasionally getting caught in artificial seaweed . The room smelled like tar with lighting that minutely mimicked changes of weather and time, there were "random" assortments of fishing rods, nets and timetables all created by the finest artisans and state of the art technology.

My relationship with this book is complex. Against Nature is a revolting and fascinating book that has haunted me and my work for decades. I feel a very powerful connection to raw, unspoiled nature and my spiritual orientation is almost pagan. Des Esseintes says that he was "excessively fond of flowers", but in a perverted way. At first he preferred the artificial ones that were "better than real", and then real flowers that looked like decayed flesh, like "factitious skin covered with a network of counterfeit veins" or the "diaphanous bladder of a pig". He had a love/hate relationship with nature.
As our world becomes more toxic and virtual the artificial environment that Des Esseintes (Huysmans) created seems even more revolting. But as an artist I am enthralled by the descriptions of Des Esseintes Fontenay. For my assemblages and collages I pick up bits of nature(tree fungus, foliage and bark) to combine with artificial foliage, manufactured items and LEDS, sharing Des Esseintes need to make and live with a piece of sublime landscape.
Marilla Palmer, Aug 24, 2007