Marc Couturier
"Tremblement de ciels"
Marc Couturier takes an altogether unique approach to the world of art.
Like a poet, he knows how to see and reveal wonders that generally escape our attention. As a tireless observer of the everyday, he notices signs and analogies that are invisible to the naked eye and deciphers, better than anyone, quite fascinating secret relationships between things.
He welcomes us to the Domaine with a “skyquake”, a strip covered in gold – the “flesh of the gods” for the artist – sculpted out of obeche wood and seemingly levitating over the lawn.
Japanese laurels hold a particular fascination for him, representing a subtle blend between the plant and sidereal worlds. Upon contemplating the stars on their studded leaves, he makes out nebulae that reflect the cosmos and claims that, with all these plant stars, there are millions of stars on Earth and, who knows, perhaps more stars down here than there are up in the sky? In this way, he says that “the sky descends to Earth and the Earth becomes the sky”.
Marc Couturier invites us to meditate on this commonplace and yet extraordinary plant at Chaumont-sur-Loire with stained-glass windows, a seat, a carpet and other fabulous signs dotted around the Farmyard, Foot Bath and Donkey Stables.
But in the Château he will also exhibit gold strips, mysterious barrels and poetic green puddles reflecting the sky, like secret mirrors revealing the starscape.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
Marc Couturier au Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire, 2016 - © Éric Sander
