Art is divine
The Abyss
by Micha Christos
MUSEE INGRES BOURDELLE
Montauban
Until January 5, 2025
JEAN-MICHEL OTHONIEL
ON THE RUINS OF THE BLACK PRINCE
The Ingres Bourdelle museum hosts installations by contemporary artists every year. After Anne and Patrick Poirier in 2023, it is the turn of Jean-Michel Othoniel to take over the premises with a unique exhibition.
His work takes place in the guard room of the bloodthirsty Black Prince, nickname of Edward of Woodstock, English knight son of King Edward III who fought in France and marked the history of the Hundred Years’ War.
Located in the basement of the museum, this medieval room dating from 1369 remains one of the only vestiges of a defensive work left unfinished by the English conquerors.
The artist Jean-Michel Othoniel, whose work has always aimed to re-enchant the world, here took up the challenge of creating light above the shadows. He thus celebrates the ruins of the past and tears them from the darkness of time to revive them in a vibrant message of hope.
This monumental architecture is made of these glass bricks that the artist has used for more than ten years.
They come here to mask the noise of war and weapons, graves and wounds. In their purity they offer an ode to sacred life in its eternal rebirth.
The concretions of mirrored bricks soar towards the sky to emerge from a tomb of black glass. They defy weightlessness and echo the pink bricks that are the glory of the Occitan region.
This work, as black as it is luminous, stands majestically as a warning against the destructive prince who exists in every being. Delicately placed in its center, beats a small block of ruby crystal, symbol of a heart vibrating with hope and glowing under the embers of despair.
