2022 / We are miserable, but love, suddenly, saves us

Neon light, India ink on wall
50 x 140 cm (19 3/4 x 55 1/8 in)

A neon installation, from which the exhibition takes its title, cites the German Romantic poet Friedrich Hölderlin, an enduring source of inspiration for Pernot. Partially hand-painted in black ink directly onto the walls of the gallery, the sculpture is installed in situ, linking it to the time-space of its exhibition. Its neon elements read: “We Love Us”.

For Pernot, like the marriage of marble and wood in The Contemplations, the universally abundant chemical of neon ensconced in hand blown glass offers a metaphor of the fragile, yet enduring and powerful force of memory, cast in the glow of love.