Filmed in downtown Los Angeles, "Lick In The Past" (2016) is a meditation on the smells, sounds, and environment of L.A. It is a partner film to "We Will Go Far" (2015), and themes of adolescence, freedom, and desire are mirrored between the two. Laure Prouvost’s cast of teenage Angelinos relates a hallucinatory narrative of urban escapism: in dreamlike scenarios they smoke cigarettes, exhale petrol fumes, and cruise aimlessly through the city’s half-light.; Laure Prouvost’s artistic output consistently returns to themes of escape into unfamiliar worlds or imaginings of unexpected alternative environments. A strong narrative impulse propels her practice, resulting in immersive, trans-medial installations with interwoven story lines that combine fiction and reality. Her videos, installations, paintings and tapestries unhinge commonplace and expected connections between language, image, and perception. Stepping away from traditional linear narratives, the artist crafts sensual environments laden with playful mistranslation that open a space for the viewer to grapple with the unstable relationship between imagination and reality.
