Robert Arnoux á Bagatelle, Paris

When we visited Bagatelle, an exhibition of Robert Arnoux was discretely placed in the gardens. For ten years, his strange characters have been walking their slender oversimplified silhouettes, solo, couple or family, in the most beautiful parks and gardens of France. Auvers-sur-Oise, Saint-Jean de Beauregard , Le Vert Bois, Le Point du Jour, and Séricourt “Garden of the Year 2012” where he was invited last summer. The figures are carved from a single block of stone. Their silhouettes are like a mirror held up to the walker, a concentration of humanity frozen and yet terribly alive. His works, which tend towards abstraction, purifies the essence of being together as a human comedy outdoors.

I love the way the sculptures blend into the garden, I made up the names of the sculptures because they seemed so obvious. At first glance, they seem like ordinary people, reading, looking at the flowers or basking in a waterfall. No hard edges to differentiate them from their surroundings, they seem natural, as if the landscape was made to accommodate them. If you like these sculptures, hurry out to Parc Bagatelle, the exhibition only lasts until June 2, 2013. There are thirty of these lovely statues, just waiting like Easter eggs, to be discovered by you in the gardens. If you really like the art, the artist will give you a guided tour every Sunday at 3:30 PM leaving from the main entrance gate of Sèvres (the gate opposite all the buildings).

References:

Robert Arnoux: http://www.robertarnoux.com/