Christian Boltanski

Jessie:Found a review of a Christian Boltanski exhibition at the Marian Goodman Gallery in Paris in Sculpture May 2006, Vol 25 No 4, pages 77 - 78. Boltanski's work is about the death of childhood, memory and the universal spirit within each soul. "In his installations the living and the dead find each other in the vortex of each viewer's memory bank". It was an image of a work called 'Prendre la Paole (Take the Word)' that caught my eye. It is a crowd of dummies that are wearing long dark wool coats. Their legs are stilt like, made from pieces of wood and instead of faces they have light bulbs on long bent necks. Coats, like shoes and clothing in gereral I guess, get a personality through use, and really represent the body and the person who wears it. To see a room full of coats on such lifeless bodies, and a whole room of them, I found really haunting and sad. Apparantly as the viewer walked through the room voices from each of the pieces were activated saying things like "I am a liar. I'm fat. I am jealous. I'm unworthy. I am tired. I'm naughty. I'm brave." Another work, called 'Le Coeur (The Heart)' was in a pitch dark room, lit by a single pulsing light which was timed to simulate the heartbeat of the artist. It was also a metaphor for memory, representing the way that we recall past events, in flashes, and without order. Just thinking about it sends shivers down my spine.

Can't get an image to upload, but check it out at www.paris-art.com/photos/MG-Boltanski-03P.jpg