Thomas Monin's ghost wolf, initially installed for the summer, will continue to watch over the Régemortes bridge. The artist, established near Moulins, is preparing a new installation for mid-November. With the same credo: to challenge, to make people think about our animality.
Since the beginning of summer, Olympia, the ghostly she-wolf of the artist Thomas Monin, has been watching over the Régemortes bridge.
So much so that this XXL sculpture placed on the roof of the Maison de la Rivière Allier now seems inseparable from the building.
This installation, which has the name “Ami. e, do you hear?”, is extended until spring 2025. The large seated she-wolf, 4.5 meters high, will therefore continue throughout the winter to watch over this entrance to the city.
This summer, a giant she-wolf will watch over the Régemortes bridge in Moulins
On the roof of the Maison de la rivière Allier
You can discover the spirit of the project on the roof of the Maison de la rivière Allier: the installation invokes historical, symbolic and cultural references and questions the intimate relationships we have with the living world and animals, a problem inseparable from the work of the artist, who invented monumental animal Art.
Starting point of the project, the concomitance, in 2024, of the anniversary of the Liberation of Moulins and the commemoration of the 40 years of the disappearance of Simone Léveillé, resistance fighter from Moulin.
The she-wolf will remain installed until spring 2025. Photo Corentin Garault
A white sculpture, by day. The show takes on its full meaning at night, this she-wolf ghost is indeed luminescent, thanks to the silicone tubes.
Thomas Monin, fascinated by wolves, is working on his new project, entitled Les revenants. He creates dozens of life-sized sculptures of ghost wolves, in a seated position, staring straight ahead. All are made of metal rods welded together and covered with blue phosphorescent paint: the artist is experimenting with a new technique which will allow his creations to appear luminescent after dark, like ghostly apparitions. “It’s about bringing back individuals killed in France in recent years,” explains Thomas Monin.
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Bourbonnais Thomas Monin exhibits his monumental animal sculptures in Lyon and Avoriaz
Wolves are one of Thomas Monin's favorite subjects.
New project and exhibition in Lyon
Thomas Monin, during the inauguration of his installation in Moulins, July 3, 2024. Photo Corentin Garault
This work evokes “the aberration represented by the systematic slaughter of individuals of this protected species, which nevertheless guarantees the good ecological health of certain territories”, believes the artist.
Reflect on our connections with nature
“We have seen how the reintroduction of the wolf into Yellowstone Park in the United States was able to regulate the excess populations of elk, these large deer, and contribute to the recovery of flora and fauna… Multiple symbols oscillating in all cultures of the world between positive and negative valuations, the “werewolf” or the “big bad wolf” still crystallizes our excesses of emotion, like the ghost, between fear and fascination. We who have artificialized the world, we now wonder where the key to the fields has gone. It is there, just a stone’s throw away, in peaceful coexistence with the wild world.”
The XXL blue whale created by Bourbonnais artist Thomas Monin in Monaco until March 2024
And to continue:
This is about asking ourselves whether we want to live with nature, or against it. Les Revenants are intended to be a close union between what we are and what we are about and invite the exploration of the intimate relationships we have with living matter.
The light sculpture of a she-wolf is installed on the Maison de la rivière Allier in Moulins. Photo Corentin Garault.
These first Revenants will be shown during the “Eau'spitalité” exhibition organized as part of the “off” programming of the Lyon Contemporary Art Biennale from November 16 to December 22. The exhibition will be held on the barge “Le Maquis” at 46, quai Rambaud, in the 2nd arrondissement. The Revenants will be visible from the quay, installed on the roof of the barge, where the artist had already exhibited his ghost whale Aurora in 2022, during the Festival of Lights.
The she-wolf, before the night… Photo Corentin Garault
Ariane Bouhours
