Cameron Jamie “Smiling Disease” at Venice Biennale International Art Exhibition

Cameron Jamie, Smiling Disease, Venice Biennale of Art

Cameron Jamie Born in 1969 in Los Angeles in the United States, Cameron Jamie lives and works in Paris and Cologne.

His work “Smiling Disease”, composed of 12 masks carved in wood, is exhibited at the Venice Biennale at the Arsenal Corderia.

A work inspired by the Germanic folklore of the Alpine regions that refers to the fairy Perchta.

The realisation of this project was also entrusted to an Austrian craftsman.

Perchta is the home fairy who visits the heavens during the twelve days preceding Christmas Day in transalpine traditions.

Cameron Jamie In “Smiling Disease” the artist associates Perchta with Krampus, a mythical creature, half-goat, half-demon, which hunts away evil spirits by moving its chains.

Krampus is responsible for punishing children who have misbehaved.

Folklore is similar both to the feast of Saint Nicholas and that of Befana in Italy.

Cameron Jamie's sculptures synthesise African tribal masks, honoured by the surrealists and transalpine Christmas traditions, with men covered in animal skins and horns.

Men who pass through the streets knock on doors to find children who have not been good.

Tremble in the face of these masks full of humour, but also scary and macabre.

Cameron Jamie