Icy and Sot, “The Killing Wind,” 2016 – Monument Valley, Arizona (Still from Video) – Courtesy Danysz
“How sad to think that nature speaks and mankind doesn't listen.”
– Victor Hugo
After having been displayed throughout the summer of 2022 under the vaults of the Collegiate Church of Saint-Pierre-le-Puellier as part of the partnership between the Metropolis of Orleans and Danysz Gallery, "Tumultes" is presented at Danysz Paris - Marais. Icy and Sot, Liu Bolin, Robert Montgomery, Charles Pétillon, Rero and Saype, invite us to a deep reflection on the place of human beings in the world we live in.
Questioning through very different techniques the relationship to Human and Nature and to the Living, as well as the defense of the Environment – a major stake in our contemporary era – these artists from rich and various universes are all engaged in the exploration and embodiment of these issues. Indeed, these citizens of the world enlighten each in their own way the ecological stake with their tool of predilection: Art in the form of video, photo, performance or installation. Different mediums marked by their sensitivity to the world that surrounds us, with the idea of a contemporary art that raises questions and conveys poignant emotions and messages.
The Iranian brothers Icy And Sot blend in their work the testimony of their own migration and exile in the USA with current climate change and environmental issues. The duo of committed artists presents videos, photographs as well as an installation highlighting the climate emergency and the multiple imprints left by humans on nature. It is then a picture of our contemporary world with all its flaws, breakdowns and tragedies that paint the artists. However Icy and Sot’ work is beaming with hope and resilience.
Known for his use of camouflage in order to blend into the landscape (unless it is the landscape that absorbs him), Liu Bolin invites us to discover the photographs of his famous series "Invisible Man" along with a sculpture made of motherboards. A way to literally merge with nature and to sound the death knell of a binary vision of humans separated from their environment, and invites us to question whether our species isn’t perhaps on the path to being dissolved into the technological, economic and political structures of the contemporary age.
As for Robert Montgomery, the poet, post-situationist artist and guest of honor at COP26, creates paintings, performances, videos and light installations in which poetry is used to address the ecological cause. Tainted with melancholy yet full of hope, his words invite us to preserve the Earth and to rediscover the link that unites us to the world. Ecology, apathy, alienation are some of his recurrent themes, with this underlying idea that “art can be transformative.” The artist, invites us to preserve the Earth and to rediscover the link that unites us to the world.
Influenced by Land Art, artistic movement of the 1960s where nature itself is used as a component of the artwork, Charles Pétillon intends through his work to highlight the imprint of humans on his environment, the complex relationships between nature and society. His interventions in places devoid of human presence or in the great outdoors, immortalized by his photographs, are akin to poetic, enigmatic and neatly articulated statements. They seek to bring to consciousness incongruities, odd circumstances, paradoxes of our time. They make us aware of situations that we might tend to forget or to ignore.
Also on display, the intriguing work of Rero, who systematically uses Verdana font, one of the most widely used, to draw words or phrases that he immediately crosses out. A conceptual approach that allows him to state and contradict at the same time, in order to better question the ambivalent nature of things and the codes of our contemporary societies. According to Rero, art does not aim to resolve problems, but to generate questions, surges of conscience regarding the myriad issues in our world. Hence, the ecological nature of his artistic creation and his ethical exigency pertaining to the new generation.
Without forgetting Saype, who distinguishes himself by his monumental interventions on the ground on thousands of square meters of grass, earth or sand, which reveal all their magnitude seen from the sky. With his works, ephemeral by nature, a combination between street-art and land-art, he questions our societies on our excesses while calling for more solidarity. Guillaume Legros alias Saype, passionate about philosophical and existential questions, explores issues around human and nature. This approach leads to the creation of scenes in the most unexpected places with eco-responsible and biodegradable paint on grass.
Therefore, the artists presented by Danysz gallery in “Tumultes” place environmental issues at the heart of their art, making Human, Nature and the Environment powerful themes in their work and a firm commitment defining their perception of our world.
