Dimensions: height 24 cm width and depth 16cm
Materials: 321B earthenware, slip-painted in strong colors
Year: 2024
This sculpture was born of research into abstraction and deconstruction of form, freely inspired by a Picasso engraving revisiting Manet's Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe. The challenge was to transcribe into volume the distortions and play on perspective that characterize this graphic work.
The ambiguity of the face, both in profile and from the front, creates a troubling perception, playing on the duality of viewpoints. The hair, sometimes brown above the head, sometimes yellow under the face, disturbs our reading and invites us to reflect on the deconstruction of colors and volumes.
The right arm in Manet's work becomes a left arm in this version, while the left arm, non-existent in Manet's work, is plastered alongside the body. Likewise, the figure's posterior seems out of place, defying classical anatomical logic. The disproportionately large feet give the impression of being viewed through a magnifying glass, reinforcing the effect of distortion.
Finally, this dynamic is accentuated by the use of black lines to underline the contours, as in an engraving, combined with a bold choice of colors. This balancing act between abstraction and figuration lends the whole a certain harmony that leaves no one indifferent.
I love this approach, which questions our perception of body and space, while paying tribute to the boldness of visual transformation.
