Laure Prouvost

b. 1978, Croix, France. Lives and works in Antwerp

Bum Shovel, 2015
Wood, pipe, rope, paint, paper, resin, plaster, metal, 136 × 44 × 23 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris — Brussels 

Getting Higher Shovel, 2015
Wood, rope, paint, resin, plaster, metal, lamp, 216 × 48 × 41 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris — Brussels 

Prehistoric Clean Shovel, 2015
Wood, rope, paint, resin, plaster, metal, brush, flints, basin, and plastic packaging
152 × 40 × 33 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris — Brussels

Grated Shovel, 2015
Wood, rope, paint, resin, plaster, metal, bone, shovel, metal grater, gloves, clay
159 × 50 × 45 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris — Brussels

Assembled by hand from everyday objects such as a pipe, a kitchen grater, an enamel bowl, and a dishwashing brush, these shovels by French artist Laure Prouvost are mysterious tools that seem to have been invented to dig deep into human nature. Each has its own character, like an anthropomorphic creature with its own unique attitude and habits. Ironically inadequate for their suggested use, the shovels also remind us of the prehistoric past, when humans created their first tools and thus distinguished themselves from the rest of the natural world by gaining the power to transform it.