L’HOMME AU JOURNAL EN 3D !
How ” L’homme au journal ” turned into bronze, a little story.
To my father
Christine
My children and grandchildren.
To Maud and Tiphaine
To art lovers
The character is comfortably seated on the terrace of the Ormeau, sitting in a wicker chair, one leg crossed over the other, his slipper dangling from his foot, his pastis within reach, absorbed in reading the newspaper. I recognize him. He “speaks” to me. He could be my father… I linger on the subject — my subject — struck by his posture. He seems almost asleep, but he is very much alive. No need to ask him to hold the pose. His happiness, if not his slightly Pagnolesque glory, radiates all around him. This happiness seems unshakable. The challenge: to share it with you. The model, of course, ignores me as he ignores everyone. But I felt the current of eternity pass through him…
To turn him into a sculpture, I wanted to draw inspiration from his pictorial version. Not to give him a head. I had the idea of preserving the psychology of the mysterious fellow. But I gave up on the table and the pastis: the character seems to gain strength — and, if I dare say, sobriety — without them. His identity suddenly appeared more universal. He is no longer reading just La Provence, but the entire printed press. On certain versions, however, that inscription appears. It was engraved with a burin after the casting, in the foundry workshop, according to my whim. Some of you, upon discovering him, have commented on the style. I wanted to keep the spontaneous feel of the drawing achieved by a quick charcoal line.
Style. Expression. Origin. So the man with the newspaper, in 3D, had to retain his character but also find an extension… otherwise, there would be no point in bringing him into the third dimension.
Each artistic technique brings, as if by magic, a unique breath of its own. My inspiration led me to use a technique made more of feather than lead. I didn’t use stone. Nor burin. I wanted to stay in the realm of lightness — as if the idea needed to surf on a cloud. With the secret hope of turning the cloud into bronze. The line thus became a cut of scissors or a cutter, and transparency. The cutouts flew, were added, subtracted, like a dance performance. Discovering the empty space between the character and the newspaper was a true shock for me: a volume filled with emptiness, placed like a stake in the center of the sculpture. Had the desired extension been achieved? My intuition told me I was on the right path. I then thought of the sky, of the invincible stars. Above all, I felt that this sky was filled with indescribable imagination and dream. The press information and the soul of the man soared through this celestial space contained within the sculpture — between the arms, the newspaper, and the body, closed at the top by the hat. My thoughts were invited to wander. This space proved to be a turning point in my journey toward the final representation of The Man with the Newspaper in 3D. Even if there were physical constraints — not financial ones — since there’s a hollow, there are interior walls, which double the amount of bronze — to the dismay of the foundryman, who in his long career had never seen such a thing, but who was instantly won over.
I would like to say one more word about the magic that accompanies every act of creation. It sometimes makes things easier, opening up unexpected paths. Where is its source? Does it take the form of a person — in my case, you know her: CHRISTINE (muse, inspiration) — or simply of the work itself? It lies, as you probably think, in both.
So many things have changed in such a short time. Mobile phones, tablets, and mini-computers are gradually making the printed newspaper disappear from café terraces, just as e-cigarettes are replacing the real smoke from cigarette paper. The world is evolving. But now I understand why The Man with the Newspaper was born: to remind us of a gesture that’s healthy for our well-being — turning the large pages of the printed press. So, let’s square our shoulders and breathe in the news with full lungs!
Happy holidays to all !
Gérard Isirdi