I try to imagine what chances this image might have—this black triangle surrounded by vertical red lines, with a few traces of yellow—of entering the realm of abstraction, of becoming an image without any recognizable figure. The possibiities are almost nil, as the profile of Vesuvius has been one of the most reproduced and popular images in the world for over two and a half centuries. Vesuvius brings wonders and fears, which make each of us a child without answers but always full of images. The reverie that took hold of me—and that intensified as I walked through this exhibition—transforms those red trails rising straight into the sky, but whose heads bend, giving them the shape of a question mark, into many migratory pink flamingos that have taken on the colour of lava. It is the full beauty of fireworks and the imprint that Amura captures. He awakens our memories and our dreams and gives them the form of a sudden, luminous enchantment.Napex 410130

Sylvain Bellenger