I Love You, You Love Me ?
Brent Birnbaum
07.June. 2025 – 05.July.2025
opening : 07.June.2025 _ 16-19h
Galerie PJ is pleased to present “I love you, you love me?”, a solo exhibition by American artist Brent Birnbaum. Combining sculpture, installation, performance and video, the artist conjures up three American cultural references linked to childhood – Alf (1986), Barney (1992) and the customizable plush animals of the Build-A-Bear brand (founded in 1997). These figures, though different in nature, serve as anchor points for a reflection on the trajectories of identity formation and the social and emotional transformations of the passage to adulthood in a tense socio-political context in Texas, her home state.
Beyond their place in the collective imagination, these figures here become catalysts for a personal and universal narrative about growing up, shame, sexuality, difference and resilience. The exhibition, with its deliberately playful, childlike aesthetic, tackles serious themes such as censorship in Texas public schools, including the blacklisting of all sexual content, the loss of innocence, and the sense of isolation felt by those who don’t conform to the dominant norms.
Barney, the emblematic character of television education, becomes the vehicle for a reflection on repressed sexuality, through paintings on childhood sheets and textile sculptures from the world of sleep and intimacy. As for Alf, an eccentric outsider, he symbolizes the artist’s alter ego, a therapeutic outlet to evoke loneliness, addiction and self-acceptance.
His photographs in Alf’s costume act as a healing ritual, a reappropriation of childhood through laughter, magic and strangeness. The plush sculptures entitled Build-A-Fear* hijack the famous Build-A-Bear to denounce conservative fear around gender fluidity and sexuality education. Their soft, familiar, comforting materiality enters into tension with explicitly symbolic elements, elaborated in complicity with the artist’s mother, introducing an intergenerational dialogue on taboos and emancipation. Initiated following his return to Texas after 18 years in New York, this exhibition marks the third and final chapter in a series of works in which Brent Birnbaum confronts his personal history with that of a changing conservative territory. “I love you, do you love me?” questions what it means to ‘grow up’ today, between memory, social confrontation and inner reconciliation.
* Build-A-Fear is a play on words invented by the artist from Build-A-Bear. By replacing bear with fear, Brent Birnbaum criticizes irrational fear and conservative reactions to questions of gender, sexuality and education. His plush sculptures hijack childlike aesthetics to subversively address sensitive themes, highlighting the tensions between innocence, censorship and freedom of expression. Build-A-Bear is an American company founded in 1997, specializing in the personalized manufacture of plush toys. Children design their own cuddly toy, choosing its appearance, voice and accessories, and can even insert a symbolic “heart”, making it a very popular playful and emotional experience in the USA.
* ALF (short for Alien Life Form), from the 1980s TV series, lives hidden away in the Tanner household and develops a special relationship with Brian, the youngest son. In one episode, ALF makes Brian drink beer, simply thinking he’s sharing an “adult” moment without measuring the consequences. This type of scene, both comical and disturbing, illustrates how an outside figure can influence a child in the process of building his identity. In this exhibition, ALF becomes a playful icon, embodying the tensions between innocence, transgression and learning about oneself.
* Barney is an iconic character from the Barney & Friends children’s series, broadcast from 1992 onwards. He’s a large, purple, animated dinosaur, benevolent and educational, who teaches children values like friendship, respect and cooperation through songs and games. He is often surrounded by a group of children, with whom he shares educational adventures, placing particular emphasis on direct, affectionate interaction with the youngest.
