Category Archives: Sculpture & installations

Art Geneva 2018 by the Lakeside

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Art Geneva 2018 has come and gone. What remains is a series of sculptures selected for the lakeside extension of this ever-growing art fare. I think this is the best part of the whole show. I love it. Big, bold public sculpture in an ideal setting. There’s just one problem. It’s minus 6 degrees by the lake today. The wind barrelling down from Lausanne makes it colder still. Wave-made icicles hang off “no swimming” signs (!) and mooring ropes. Only a few hardy dog-walkers and I are out and about. Somehow, the sculptures stand immune to and united against the blistering cold.

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Gonzalo Lebrija “Cubo Torcido” Polyurethane paint on steel, 2017

Gonzalo Lebrija’s twisted cube sits on a neat and clean base. It is itself a neat and clean structure. The smooth worked steel makes for blade-like lines. I run my numb thumb down it’s frozen edges. The proportions and feel are pleasing.

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Anthony Gormley “Big Take” Forged iron, 2014

O frabjous day! An Anthony Gormley. Somehow, someone from Art Geneva has managed to snag from somewhere and install here a work by the master of forged iron big public sculpture. I walk around it. No clean base this time but some carefully laid turf. Were it not for the temperature, I would sit by it for an hour or so and simply admire its balanced cuboid proportions. It makes me happy.

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Barry Flanagan “Large monument” Bronze, 1996

My third choice is Barry Flanagan’s “Large monument”. The name doesn’t help understand what passed through the sculpter’s mind in the creative process. Maybe this builds on the intrigue. I am sure there is a reference to some otherworld fantasy. (It reminds me of Paul Dibbles very real-world “Calici scythe“) Three happy rabbitoid figures prance and dance atop a tall, rough, solidly-sitting throne-like thingummyjig. A fourth figure sits pensively as though he/she/it is bored with the prance-dance. The reason I admire it is that whilst it is certainly a “large monument,” I can’t see Mr Flanagan taking the necessary work terribly seriously. I think he just had fun.

If you can’t brave the cold now wait a week or so for a slightly warmer Geneva lakeside to take in these sculptures. Individually and collectively, they are immensely gratifying.

Roundabouts in Martigny

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I am in Martigny, le Valais, Switzerland. The small town sits comfortably in the Rhone valley surrounded by precipitous mountains. Travelling to ski in Zermatt, Verbier or Crans-Montana, you are likely to pass through here. Historically, it is a gateway to the high passes that access southern Europe. There are the remains of an old Roman fort. It is the hub of a centuries-old wine growing tradition. It is also a surprisingly rich centre for “modern art” (whatever the phrase means) and is home to the Gianadda Foundation.

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Rudolf Blattler

My first impression is that of a clean and quiet town. It seems that the inhabitants of Martigny go about their business quietly and in an orderly fashion. Careful drivers of German cars respect the speed limits, each other and those on foot. The first impression lasts. A stroll around the streets instills a feeling of calm. For a moment, I thought I had come across the Big Luggage People from Amsterdam!

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André Ramseyer

The major difference between this Swiss town and others is the roundabouts. In Martigny, each is a carefully maintained grassy dome on top of which sits an intriguing if not beautiful contemporary sculpture.

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Josef Staub

Josef Staub’s massive ribbon of twisted stainless steel catches my eye. It reminds me of Gayle Hermick’s “Wandering the immeaasurable.”

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Hans Erni

The streets provide a unique big sculpture exhibition that’s worth a visit. You can find this work by Hans Erni only fifty metres from the railway station.

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Yves Dana

More gratifying than finding these wonders so well presented in the streets of such a town is that the brave sculptors who have allowed their souls to be bared are adequately acknowledged with handsome little signs bearing their names. These signs face the traffic coming into each roundabout; I imagine this is so the names can be read by drivers and pedestrians alike. Fantastic! Such thoughtful practice is rare in the domain of big public sculpture. Bravo, Martigny!

It’s her day!

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Andy Denzler 1

Andy Denzler “Liquid Walking Woman” 2016 Bronze

I stroll through down-town Geneva. It is hot. Very hot. Every-language tourists swarm the luxury shrines to chocolate and watches. A stunning new bronze sculpture in Place de Longemalle stops me in my tracks. It is a young woman in hoody, cut-off denim shorts and trainers walking with confidence. She holds a smartphone. Like her living counterparts, she seems unaware of her allure or the conveniences brought by smartphone culture. She is constructed of horizontal segments re-stacked. The texture contrasts effectively with the smooth skin of the presumed model. Somehow, this sculpture captures the young woman of today. It is very beautiful and very gratifying.

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Andy Denzler “Selfie” 2016 Bronze

I look around for the plaque that names the genius behind this work. Instead, I spot the same young woman only forty metres away. She has both feet firmly planted and her smartphone held up towards her other self striding to meet her. She has that small-screen look of concentration. Is she photographing her twin, taking a selfie, recording the street scene or checking her make-up? I am captivated by these works individually and as a pair. Finding them makes my day. I wander round them admiring the poise, youth and statement that the sculptor has accomplished here. Eventually, I find a little sign that tells me these are recent works of Andy Denzler from Zurich. They are presented by and just outside the Opera Gallery.

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Andy Denzler “Selfie” 2016 Bronze (detail)

I did not grow up in the internet era nor even with a mobile phone. Denzler’s subject cannot possibly know existence without a smartphone. It is also her camera, her street map, her address book, her pen and paper, her mirror, her compass, her library, her photo album, her stereo, her shopping mall, her magazines, her cinema and much more besides. Her friends and friends’ friends, real and virtual, are connected, categorized and communicated with by Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Whatsapp and Instagram. As for all of my generation, what mobile technologies bring to humanity is both fascinating and intimidating. Were I to find myself in conversation with Denzler’s young woman, I’d be interested to know whether she could conceive of life before smartphones. And if I said something stupid like “Well, in my day, we didn’t have such technology.” I am certain she would simply look up from the screen for a second or two, look my squarely in the eye and say politely “But it’s not your day!”