Amazing sculptures all in roundness, kites all in triangles… The exhibition currently presented at the Frac and until August 18, shows the work of the Simonnets who decline, assemble and combine modules.
Until August 18, the Frac Centre-Val de Loire is presenting around twenty works by Marthe and Jean-Marie Simonnet, an artist couple based in Griselles, a few kilometers from Montargis, and now aged 82 and 85.
“Local artists,” rejoices Nelly Perrier de La Bâthie, curator of the exhibition, delighted to be able to report on their practice and create an archive. A film was thus made with the couple evoking their work, about twenty minutes which allow visitors to understand their approach and discover their technique. Since their meeting at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris in the architecture department, Marthe and Jean-Marie Simonnet have shared their life and work.
In the courtyard of the Frac, Hexadule, the result of a modular game.
A multitude of formal solutions
In the Frac gardens, there is room for the “Polymorphes”, figures with a polished, almost industrial finish, made of modules with constant circular sections, or, in the courtyard, for the Hexadule, which offers a multitude of formal solutions. “It is modularity and rationality that allow creation by two and also to go further in the richness of creation”, explains Nelly Perrier de La Bâthie.
Kites, a unique area of creation, a real hobby for the Simonnets.
And to clarify: “The Simonnets create their plastic works in their workshop, from A to Z, and their creation is not separated from the pleasure of manufacturing. On the contrary, it finds a source of inspiration there.”
Playful and generous
A playful and generous approach for sculptures that invite play and manipulation. An iniquitous work that is constantly renewed.
Kites, a unique area of creation, a real hobby for the Simonnets
Receive our leisure newsletter by email and find ideas for outings and activities in your region.
This exhibition also shows, and this is its singularity, their monumental kites. Upon entering a gallery, these performative works change status. “We observe a shift in the relationship of the works from the bodies of the performers to those of the spectators. And the visitors wander among these inanimate sails with ephemeral poetry.”
Tribute to Roger Toulouse: works to see and see again throughout the summer in Orléans
Practical
Until August 18 at the Frac Centre-Val de Loire, boulevard Rocheplatte. Wednesday to Sunday, from 2 to 7 p.m. (8 p.m. on the first Thursday of the month). Tel. 02.38.62.52.00.
Julie Poulet-Sevestre
