Artist of our current exhibition “Welcome to a Land of Needs and Desires”
Romain Gandolphe (1989, France) for his part appropriates words. A born storyteller, he draws from the adventures that occurred during his travels and his life as an artist to extrapolate tales whose status is indeterminate, at the crossroads of performance, confidence, guided tour, theatre or lecture. Orality becomes the main medium of his work. Narrated exhibitions and stories of forgotten works now compose the foundations of his repertoire, although he allows himself to divert, his humour and his storytelling gifts allow him all excesses… On the occasion of a research trip to La Vague, the artist enjoyed strolling under the gentle sun, sitting, lying here and there, feeling his body unfold like Robinson on his island. Drawing up a plan in his notebook which inevitably materialized as a scenario, Romain Gandolpohe has created a sound itinerary in the outdoor spaces: “Ici les formes et là leurs ombres – un ensemble de sculptures racontées” (Here, the forms and there their shadows – an ensemble of narrated sculptures). Halfway between recited ekphrasis and an augmented reality itinerary, he cast doubt in the ears of the visitors. Are these sculptures really just an illusion? And did that figure that just crossed my field of vision emerge from the real world or is it a figment of my imagination?
