“Plastiglomerate” is the identify for an unnatural stone that appeared within the south of the island of Hawaii, made up of volcanic rock, sand, shell particles and plastic. Some scientists have recognized this rock as a marker of the Anthropocene, a brand new geological epoch characterised by the irreversible impression of human exercise on the planet.
The proof of this period could be discovered throughout us, from deforested areas to unlawful dumps and quarries. These sombre websites present Romain Langlois with the inspiration for his sculptures: an deserted beam on a demolition web site, a tree trunk present in a wasteland, a piece of stone used to dam off a street… a plethora of “objects” torn from nature and discarded after use.
The artist appropriates this “cultural sediment”, transforms it, and presents it to us in a museum or exhibition house, as if to say: “And now, what do you see?”
Like a real alchemist, he has transmuted the strange into one thing extraordinary. The rock that sits earlier than you isn’t stone: it’s bronze. That tree trunk isn’t wooden however calcite, created by crystallising calcium carbonate, a course of that has been mastered by only a handful of artisans. The resemblance is hanging, however the artist doesn’t limit himself to this trompe l’oeil impact.
His rocks are damaged aside to disclose their contents — a radiant liquid resembling magma— whereas the rafter appears to be lifting itself right into a vertical place, with folds forming on its floor very like human pores and skin. The inert supplies appear to return alive earlier than your eyes, exposing their latent life drive.
In keeping with the artist, “every thing is alive, every thing is in movement, every thing is in a strategy of transformation. There’s life beneath the floor, simply ready to be unleashed. Via my sculptures, I’m able to faucet into this innate drive and reveal it to the world.” Romain Langlois has drawn on this instinct of an ubiquitous life all through his profession as a sculptor.
The 43-year-old French artist is totally self-taught, pushed by ardour, a thirst for data, and a need to make his personal approach and turn out to be one of many nice names on this artwork. For 12 years, surrounded by anatomy references, he sculpted human faces and our bodies, striving to grasp every approach in accordance with his personal excessive requirements. From white bronze to bismuth, crystal, silver and stone, the artist has tried his hand at a complete vary of supplies, gaining an intimate data of each medium. “Working with a cloth is the one strategy to really perceive it,” he explains, “the contact of your fingers creates a novel bond.”
On the earth of up to date artwork, the place ideas take priority over execution and the place know-how and craftsmanship are sometimes thought of secondary, Romain Langlois selected to place supplies on the very coronary heart of his creative strategy. Though he has moved away from depictions of individuals, his work continues to discover the human situation from an environmental angle, scrutinising humanity’s profound impression on our environment.
His sculptures seize a anonymous fact about life itself: one thing that binds us to the wooden and the rocks, and raises questions concerning the place we occupy on this pure order.
Born in Saint-Etienne (France) in 1977, Romain Langlois turned to sculpture after finishing his design research and spending a number of years working in an structure agency. His works have been exhibited on the Museum of Fashionable and Up to date Artwork in Saint-Etienne and on the MAD in Paris. They’re additionally present in a number of prestigious non-public collections.
Romain Langlois is represented by Paris–primarily based Artistics contemporary art gallery.
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