The thirteen forms keeping silent vigil in the temporary exhibition space of the Musée de l'Hospice Saint-Roch in Issoudun are the result of years of experimentation with wood carving, welding metal and modelling clay. They are eerily human, several metres tall and displayed so that the visitor can walk around and amongst them. You get glimpses of an ancestral past -- shapes that recall classical Greek sculpture, and yet others which have a sci-fi futuristic look. They give the impression of being engaged in some mysterious, silent ceremony, oblivious to the viewer, yet able to radiate a power that induces an uneasy respect, not just for their size and the technical ability of the artist, but for the ambiance the objects themselves create as a group.
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A la cuisine hier: French Apple Pie, a dish that, as you will no doubt have guessed, is unknown to French people. Until now at any rate. I will be introducing a group of French bat surveyors to this pie at lunch today, as my contribution to the meal after our annual winter bat survey.
Dinner was leftover roast rear end of turkey with gravy, potatoes, carrots and chard from our local organic market garden and orchard. I made some sablés with the leftover pastry from the pie and took a small baked custard with plum syrup out of the freezer.
10 comments:
I'm not sure I'd like to spend a night in there!!
I'm fairly sure it's not a requirement...
They are quite ugly and what kind of talent is this?
Not to everyone's taste, but I think they are interesting and well worth a visit.
They are quite sci-fi. I found them solemn and impressive. The talent frm a purely hands on technical point of view is in combining the two media (metal and ceramics) and because they are so large. From an artistic point of view they are expressive of timelessness, keeping watch, ritual and many other sentiments linked to the idea of elders in a community.
I'm not sure they are still there. The museum only owns one of the figures. The rest were on loan. It was a temporary eshibition, but I saw it after the dates shown on the promo poster, so I don't know when it actually finishes.
Because of the way they are presented, these pillars make me think of the terracotta warriors in that Chinese emperor's tomb.
In my opinion, the sole interesting feature in these sculptures is the mixture, as you said, of metal and ceramic. Other than that...
This museum, however, must be commended to open its doors to artists who might be recognized as such in a distant future.
They have a presence in real life. Very atmospheric, like ancestral spirits or something. I think the museum prides itself on having contemporary exhibits as well as historical. I think it works very well.
Those are very thought-provoking. Greek, as you say, and I also got a distinct SciFi-Star Wars vibe. And agree with chm that they have a certain sense of the Chinese terracotta warriors, although those are like nothing else.
I'd like to see them in person.
There are definately elements of kouros there. I get a Dr Who vibe rather than Star Wars, but that's just to do with differing cultural backgrounds. I'm less convinced by the Chinese warriors look -- I don't think Les Veilleurs are packed closely enough, and they are two or three times life size, so significantly bigger than the Chinese figures. Perhaps their sense of being on watch or a protective phalanx is reminiscent of the Chinese warriors though. I think your chance to see them all together like this has probably passed. I guess I was very lucky, without realising it at the time.
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