Baptiste Debombourg‘s Aggravure III consists of a wall installation made out of nearly half a million staples nailed into a wall, which took 340 hours to complete. It comes as no surprise that Dedombourg was inspired by 16th century engravers such as Hendrick Goltzius, Jam Harmensz and Cherubino Alberti. The installation echoes the highly stylized bodybuilder-like beauty and unnatural movement that was preferred in the works of the 16 century Mannerists.

Dedombourg: “I then use some images by “worsening” the scale, the form or the context to produce an installation in the architecture by means of staples. The recurring theme in these paintings revolves around the collapse that resonates with staples. Here the staple is a material and a media that plays with contemporary aggression and daily life’s secular usefulness.”