LARGE FUNCTIONAL SCULPTURES
Broadcasted from Montreal on April 22nd to May 4th 2021, Fictions was an immersive virtual exhibition of eight Montreal designers including Atelier Zébulon Perron, Claste Collection, David Umemoto, Lambert & Fils, Loïc Bard, Pascale Girardin, SSSVLL, and Yannick Pouliot. Presented by the Canadian Creators Collective. Curated by Nicolas Bellevance-Lecompte.
The project was originally scheduled to be showcased at the 2020 Salone del Mobile in Milan, but it was unfortunately cancelled like everything else that year.
My contribution is this series of 6 large concrete pieces (for my standards).
Fictions no.1: Vasque/Stepwell
Over the past few years, I have developed a practice that lies at the crossroads of design, sculpture and architecture. My raw concrete installations representing miniature buildings are both decorative objects and works of art. The gray monochromy of my creations as well as the architectural vocabulary, made of pure and simple lines, are intended as a reference to classic structures and at the same time make the bridge towards modern industrial buildings. We can think of the prisons of Piranesi, the paintings of Chirico, the Roman aqueducts, as much as the dwellings of Le Corbusier or even oil refineries and water towers.
Polystyrene waste mold used to cast the concrete piece
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Fictions no.2: Candelabre/Aqueduct
It is in line with this interest in pragmatic and vernacular buildings that I want to deepen a work started recently: the creation of functional objects, produced with the same processes as my previous works. In the context of this project, it is for example a teapot, carafe, candlestick, candelabra or incense burner. These objects are theoretically usable, but their size and weight make them difficult to handle. The interplay of scales and volumes, already present in the miniature buildings, still remains a major point of interest. These objects can be seen as architectures on a reduced scale: the carafe becomes a water tower, the candelabrum becomes a cathedral, the candlestick becomes a cracking tower, the censer becomes a temple or an altar.
Fictions no.3: Teapot/Water Tower
The oversize of these practical objects makes them oddly inconvenient and cumbersome, but their grandeur also serves to summon a sense of sacredness. Indeed, even if the objects presented may only have a domestic use, the solemnity conferred on them by their size and their design creates an atmosphere of contemplation around them. The spectator discovers a miniature monumentality, so to speak, which evokes an intimate religiosity. One thinks of certain ritual practices, which have become universal referents (tea ceremony, cremation, eucharist, incense).
Logistics
And as with most important projects, packing and moving things around is half the job…
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