the precious creatures of Lionel Sabaté disturb our senses

After several monographs at the MAMC+ in Saint-Étienne (2021) or at the Château de Chambord (2023), Lionel Sabatté is at the heart of an exhibition at the 8+4 gallery (Paris, 2nd arrondissement), until June 27. Drawing, sculpture, dust printing, engraving, painting and tapestry… the visitor can discover new works where the artist explores numerous techniques to “ invent a new zoocenosis “. On this occasion, ” Knowledge of the Arts » spoke with Lionel Sabatté to tell the story of the genesis of his disturbing creatures and reveal the creative process of his first tapestry.

Knowledge of the Arts: Why did you choose “Zoocenosis” as the title of the exhibition?

Lionel Sabaté : I didn’t know exactly what zoocenosis meant when I discovered the word. What intrigued me was the presence of the word “ zoo », which could suggest confinement. However, zoocenosis rather means a set of living animal species that coexist. When we add the plants, it is the biotope. I found this word and its form of ambivalence interesting.

At the same time, in this exhibition I offer a look at possible cohabitation. I imagined a set of creatures that were born from different materials, including oil. I recovered some oil from the sinking of theOlympic Bravery which took place in 1973, one of the first major shipwrecks in France. It was little publicized, much less than that of the tanker Amoco Cadiz, which took place in 1979. Traces of this oil can still be found on the island of Ouessant. It appears on the shore in the form of pebbles deposited on granite which can be recovered.

What technique(s) did you use to create these recent works?

I have worked with this material in different ways, using it directly as a pencil, or diluting it with turpentine, like a prehistoric pigment. It then becomes fluid oil again. I also worked it with fishing nets that I recovered from an abandoned port in the south of France, near Bages. I threw these fillets into the etching press. Each “throw” allowed me to print the net mark on paper. With oil, the embedded mesh revealed creatures, as if it were fishing, hence the title of this series.

In the works of Fishing, the meshes of the net give an often somewhat reptilian texture to the creatures that appear. Oil fragments are visible in the form of juice or material which can form eyes for example. I also added a golden powder to refer to the black gold of oil. It reflects the light and it reveals these creatures. It is projected like a breath. While oil is either a watery or earthy material, this golden powder represents the element of air and gives a little life to this peach.

What place do you leave to chance in your work?

I really like my work to leave room for chance, this is a constant in almost all the works I create. I always go back and forth between chance and control. This navigation allows me to land on initially unknown shores and to approach worlds that I had not yet considered. Randomness can appear in many ways, by throwing a net or a cup of oil, by blowing powder which settles arbitrarily.

When you move away from the drawing, there is something random that appears. But you have to be at a good distance, otherwise the randomness leads nowhere or nowhere readable. And that’s the real disaster. We no longer see anything and it’s another type of approach, but it’s not the one I chose since my work is still figurative.

What was the process of creating your first tapestry, presented here?

The link between the tapestry and these nets is obviously weaving. Netting is a non-woven mesh element that interested me because it is already a fabric. A fabric that evokes both being together, like the social fabric, and a trap like a net. I really liked this ambivalence. It led me to a new working technique that I explored for this exhibition which is that of tapestry. The piece presented in the exhibition was created in Aubusson.

I chose to work from an engraving that I made a few years ago called Fantasy. It is part of a series of engravings which represent somewhat indeterminate creatures. We worked with a warp thread, the thread that does not normally appear in tapestries and which serves as a support. The threads were then dipped in the paint that I came to deposit the oil on the tapestry by placing it on the ground, like dripping by Jackson Pollock. These interlacing threads led me to produce this double bull, with a head that looks very Picasso. When we approach the subject of the bull, we are often close to Picasso. The animal even has breasts and a human head. He is multiple, both human and bull.

I worked on the reverse side of the tapestry because, for me, this fabric is that of the bullfighter. This is a lure, a trap for the bull. I found the idea of ​​positioning the viewer in the position of the trapper, the bullfighter, interesting. That’s why I called this tapestry Minotaur tide. The Minotaur is this animal at the center of the labyrinth from which we can only escape by Ariadne’s thread.

I also used large fragments of oil to represent looks. These kinds of oil stones that I collected in Ushant. Weaving also has something very parietal about it. The tapestry is close to a skin of an animal, of a cow’s skin. I added some color impacts which are red and black oil paint, the colors of bullfighting, this unequal fight with the animal. I really like thinking about oil. It is a material that is the result of sedimentation from creatures that lived hundreds of millions of years ago, creatures that are our ancestors. They produced this material that we use to make energy and which is known to also destroy the planet. I find this idea of ​​symbolic energy very strong and it can lead to imagining other possible relationships, a new zoocenosis, which is the basis of this exhibition.

“Lionel Sabaté – Zoocenosis”
Gallery 8+4
13 rue d’Alexandrie, 75002 Paris
until June 27
Meeting with Lionel SABATTÉ