H. Duy Anh Nhan Duc
“Champ céleste”
Thousands of dandelions are decking out the Donkey Stables. The brainchild of visual artist Duy Anh Nhan Duc, this exquisite installation suspends time and invites us to contemplate the poetic frailty of an instant.
The frescoes and sculptures crafted from dandelion pappi on display here represent a variation on the lightness of this altogether elusive flower.
“For the Donkey Stables I have designed a composition as fleeting as it is volatile, made out of suspended natural dandelions. This upside down field is reflected in the gleaming surface of the ground, transporting us up to the heights of a plant sky. The air, a key ally of these feather-light seeds, is part and parcel of this scene, carried by the music composed by Benoît Cimbé. The dandelion always holds a very special place in my work. For me it evokes all the beauty of the world and at the same time all its fragility. As a symbol of untamed nature, free and wild, this flower blooms in almost every part of the world. So no matter who you are or where you come from, the dandelion exhales for everybody a sweet melody of childhood. In its presence, we are all caught up in a sort of universal pleasure, with only one thing in mind: to blow and see its thousands of shooting stars fly away. It has the faculty to connect us immediately with the inner child that is in each of us, at a time of our life where we still cultivated this privileged link with nature.” Duy Anh Nhan Duc
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
Duy Anh Nhan Duc au Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire, 2018 - © Éric Sander
Duy Anh Nhan Duc was born in 1983 in Saigon, Vietnam. He came to France at 10 years of age, and now lives and works in Paris. Nature is the matrix of this visual artist’s works. A constant search for alliance and osmosis to present a different vision of plant kingdom. “Through my work, I intend to capture the unique allure of vegetation, to transcribe the emotions it arouses in me and to stage it in the narrative it brings to my mind. The pieces I dream up are a way to showcase the plants with which we are all familiar, but which we no longer see. Everything is a pretext in my work to honour plants. Each creation is an invitation to others to take their time observing nature with fresh eyes, with attention and sensitivity.”
In his Parisian studio, the artist transforms plants with subtle forms and invents a poetic nature is if it were in balance with the fragility of an instant. Clover, poppy, hortensia, lichens… and of course dandelion, his favourite plant, provide the matter for a magical artwork. The fruit of tireless walks to gather flowers, his installations radiate fleeting, sensitive beauty.
