For her exhibition in Rennes, Christelle Familiari’s work takes on a new relationship with the exhibition space and with sculpture: three metric tons of white clay used for making ceramics were spread across the entire surface of La Criée, inviting visitors to discreetly “sculpt” the clay as they wandered through the space. This earthen landscape is dotted with ceramic sculptures titled Flasques—abstract forms that deceptively resemble soft shapes.
The first Flasques were created in the summer of 2006 during an artist residency at the Interface community gallery (Dijon) and were shown in the exhibition that followed. At the time, they were paired with a series of collages made from pages of fashion magazines, which directed the viewer’s interpretation toward themes of dislocation, dismemberment, and abandonment. This first series of flasques emerged from working with the material and challenging its properties using the “colombin” technique: a coil of clay is shaped and then attached to the rim of the vessel. This irregular technique creates excess material that can cause the form to sag—an effect that Christelle Familiari sought to achieve and encouraged in this work. The “Flasques” thus reflect the transformative process of ceramics—the collapse of form under its own weight—and these sculptures suggest not only the artist’s gesture but also a state of self-abandonment, an abandonment of form itself.
The Flasques presented here were created in the workshops of CRAFT (Center for Research on the Arts of Fire and Earth) in July, August, and September 2007; they have been fired and glazed.
In the exhibition Flasque(s) at La Criée, the artist’s presence has receded in favor of other forms of presence—ones that are both more discreet and more complex. The sculptures arranged on the floor were shaped from the same material used to cover the floor of La Criée, which envelops them and connects them into a single whole, like a landscape in which the visitor finds themselves drawn in against their will. Over time, the clay will turn to dust, and the ceramic pieces will break away from the mass. They will thus resurface, only to reappear more fragile, without a base, and scattered throughout the space.
To document and bear witness to the work’s evolution, Christelle Familiari commissioned three photographs. The first was taken on January 2, 2008, before any external intervention had taken place in the space. The second shows the work’s condition the day after the opening, and the third was taken some time later. These three black-and-white photographs are on display in the small room at the fish auction and serve as a reminder of this ephemeral, ever-changing work.
Visitors thus find themselves drawn into this work, both participants in their own presence and spectators of past states. It is precisely to these interactions—with oneself, with one’s perception of space, and with the sculpture—that Christelle Familiari invites us.
Carole Brulard
Production :
-- La Criée centre d’art contemporain, Rennes
-- Le Lait centre d’art contemporain, Albi