Thursday 19 May 2011
Déshabillez-moi... with genius. Or how to get up close and intimate with an installation of works, peel back the layers, go beneath the surface and lay bare the work of the curator...
Under the benevolent eye of Liberty encouraging Science and the Arts, in Jacques Réattu's incredibly sculptural (and, at times, controversial) painting ingrisaille,Vincent Barré's works take on an extra dimension, as though they are in progress, waiting to be finished. This contemporary artist is as much preoccupied with sculpting the body as with his own body in sculpture. His lightweight, fragile polystyrene models were never meant to go on show; they were to be scrapped after being cast in metal. They speak to us about the artist's creative process, but they also reveal the thinking of the museographer, who chose to show objects that would normally have stayed within the confines of the studio. They make sense as part of the artist's work, yet they also interact with the other works that share this temporary home in a room in the museum...
