Last February, I discovered a sculpture by
Georges Guye – a self-portrait. By then, it was a smaller item of what was to
become a real size sculpture. But, that day, I saw it like a “gisant” somewhat
like a recumbent statue, lying in a chirurgical set, an operation room.
Later, I’ve been back to his studio near la
“Vieille Charité” in Marseille. The sculpture was then almost achieved.
This
GG’s sculpture shows him standing, without clothes. But, the swimming suit he
is wearing distinguishes him on purpose from a living model, which would show a
nude of the artist.
To create
a self-portrait is like taking someone as a model who is not the model. Like
showing yourself without any abandon of distances, and beyond, all the limits
referring to yourself. That’s what occurred to me at a first glance.
Instead of creating a complete nude, GG has
played at minima with the request of “an honest man” with respect to
conveniences. We find ourselves around a
withheld posture that does not show any defiance, neither any intention of
superiority; the spectator remaining on the same level as the artist’s work
standing on a base on the floor. Hence the spectator finds himself on an
equivalent level to the artist’s work.
Is this the way GG wishes to place himself as
an artist in front of the spectator? Does he want to invite the viewer to
consider art as a part of real life, as necessary as earthly nourishment?
To exhibit the sculptor in an intimate and very
close sphere seem to me an unexpected and original procedure, rather close to
what the committed humanist Michel de Montaigne did in writing his “Essays” (1592).
Montaigne writes: “One would say that taking
oneself as subject could be an excuse for some gentlemen, rare, and famous by
their reputation who would like to share their knowledge. One thing is certain;
I do admit and I know that in order to examine a common man, un ordinary
craftsman does not let his eyes leave his work (…) I am not erecting a statue
at the crossroad of the city (…) Some have the desire to talk about themselves
as they find the subject rich and full of dignity; on the contrary, I find it
too infertile not to provoke an ostentatious suspicion”. (Essays II 18 – 1580 – 1592).
Here, the normality of the appearance tends to
move the look of the bystander from curiosity towards a more careful attention
and a more delicate attention. Already, we are in Rousseau’s domain. He declares
in the beginning of “Confessions” (First
book, 1712 – 1728): “ I want to show my fellow men a man in the whole
verity of nature”.
As I am not familiar with other attempts of self-portraits
in a human scale size, comparable to GG’s sculpture, I refer to Philippe
Lejeune and his “pacte autobiographique”:
“The
commitment by an author to render a life story in retrospect, with sincerity,
albeit the difficulties to show oneself nude, to unveil one’s weaknesses, to
expose oneself to the (friendly) judgement of the reader” (here, the
spectator).
The swimming suit, which adorns the sculpture, as
well as the base on the floor evoke the environment of a sand beach. The bare
feet are lightly buried in the sand, a small wave licks the toes. The man is
standing straight, with his two feet flat, as in a position of rest. A natural
position adopted in a harmonious balance. The arms are crossed on the chest with
the fingertips under the armpits, as if searching for some source of warmth.
The man, facing the sea, seems to contemplate
the water. We could guess an envy, but with apprehension. We are still in a
sort of “maybe”: in a suspended time-lap, considering the water,
the character lingers around himself before going into the cold water. The eyes are fixing a far away horizon; they
do not meet those of the viewer.
This far away scenery and the potential given by
the sculptor open the doors to speculations of all kinds: poetry, psychology, and philosophy.
For this reason, I stay aside, not imagining a line
which would close this parenthesis desired by the sculptor.
On the white plaster strip figuring the
swimming suit, we find some coloured elements in “relief” which are quickly
identified: sweet
“Haribo” candies! A link in a wink to childhood anniversaries …
and maybe to the time that passes by?
Here also, the puckish spirit of GG pops up (fait surface). Some references: I recall the surrealist Meret
Oppenheim’s “tasse, soucoupe et cuillère
recouvertes de fourrure- 1936”, and the ready-made style by Marcel Duchamp.
Because
here, the reliefs are created one by
one, in polyester, copies of the original candies. We have to consider them as a reference to
all the sculpted pieces of art in polyester by GG. Among others, “The Giant Bean” so daring that it
recalls the beef quarter by Rembrandt or Chaïm Soutine, or his floor lamps in
unusual forms, for instance the cabbage,
the beetroot and more recently his chamallow seats.
According to GG, this standing self-portrait,
scale one, is rather unique in the history of sculpture. Another Marseille
artist, Gilles Barbier, also uses his own body in his work, but in a different
manner. He creates clones of himself, proceeding by castings (not the case in
GG’s work). His transformations and distortions, especially when changing the
scale, evoke
characters in a freak parade as the ones he staged in the exhibit “Echo système”
at the Friche de la Belle de Mai in 2015.
GG’s sculpture is narrative. It tells in an
anecdotic manner how GG goes into the water. It is also staging sculpture by
the sculptor himself. Is it a confession of faith? An artistic will?
Technically, GG
made a frame of wires covered by plaster strips. The self-portrait is left in its original
white colour, the whiteness of marble. However, in its texture it remains as an
ephemeral and fragile object, which could be compared to the essence of life as
a “memento mori”.
The standing man is not a “walking man”, he
seems far away from a reference to Giacometti, the comparison could only be by antithesis.
GG’s man, his own himself, is not shown walking
towards the future, he doesn’t step out of the mud, he doesn’t show any
immediate antagonism.
Giacometti does not show a man, but the tragic
fate of man.
GG’s sculpture, composes with an inspiration perhaps
found in Voltaire’s writings: show a modest figure with derision. Not putting
aside a reflection around the human condition, we can see here more the “atome” than a human transcendence.
The silhouette bears witness of the body’s years of maturity, while the white
plaster gives the smoothness of the texture, as well as the quality of lights
and shadows, all delicately sensual.
To
sculpt one’s own body is creating oneself while accepting the constraint of the
model. Moreover, it’s like giving birth and embracing the model. It’s a question of expressing the delicate
coexistence (or the absence of proximity) with the body, particularly as years
go by.
A big abnegation is needed when the decision is
taken to sculpt your own body, because you have to observe yourself from every
angle, and even more “extract” yourself from yourself. Our interior perception
(the most common one) often appears very subjective when confronted to the test
of the mirror.
Michel Leiris writes in the first pages of “L’âge d’Homme” 1939 (The age of Man): “I hate to see myself unexpectedly in a mirror, not being prepared
for it, I find myself humiliated by the
ugliness.”
My conviction is that GG did not escape from
this difficulty. He had to change to a
point of view belonging to somebody else. In other words to become a stranger
in order to represent himself.
Aix-en-Provence, June 22nd 2016
Florence Laude
French literature teacher, painter and
blogwoman
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