In the hollow of clay the question of the ephemeral, of the gush, of time unravelling, is played out. In... Read More
In the hollow of clay the question of the ephemeral, of the gush, of time unravelling, is played out. In other words, time is the agent that reveals the forms that will in turn be born, merge and transform, moving from plant to animal to mineral, in a perpetual cycle: the material unfolds under my fingers, metamorphoses under the beam of light and then, as slowly as inexorably, decomposes back to dust.
Coral and polyps have fascinated people since ancient times, including the Renaissance and its cabinets of wonders. It was during a trip to Vietnam, to the Côn Dao archipelago, that I was in turn impressed. At the same time as marvelling at the coral reefs, I noticed the phenomenon of their bleaching. Above all, I observed their skeletons washed up by the thousands on the beaches. In this way, the impression of wonder and the impression of chaos were simultaneously contracted. The Breath being the precondition for the passage from chaos to wonder, from the gaping void to what exists, this work is conceived as a space in mutation in which clay takes on form and life. This genesis and transmutation into a figure are the hallmarks of form. This central figure remains ambivalent, and the eye eventually glimpses humanoid contours, twisting limbs reminiscent of the branches of Corallium rubrum (red coral from the Mediterranean).
Like coral, the sculpture begins to dry when the I stop wetting it. From then on, it will crumble and slowly disappear, and then it will come back to life in a new form by recycling it. Souffle pétrifié (Petrified Breath) questions the public by mirroring the present condition of coral reefs and the future that awaits them if we don't protect them.
