The new exhibition at La Sucrière (Lyon 7) is devoted to hyperrealist sculptures by international artists.
Among them, the Frenchman Fabien Mérelle represents himself in his works.
His impeccable technique allowed him to go beyond the exact representation of reality, to open the door to imagination and dreams.
Talking to a model makes you feel a bit silly.
Except at La Sucrière (Lyon 7).
In the exhibition "Hyperrealism - this is not a body", several works are so strikingly realistic that they can cast doubt.
Seated workers, bathers in bikinis, a couple embracing or an elderly woman holding an infant surprise, move, sometimes shock.
The fascinated visitor scrutinizes the texture of the skin, the wrinkles, the hairiness of the characters of Sam Jinks.
Before smiling in front of the giant infant of Ron Mueck, and recoiling in front of the greenish limbs of Berlinde de Bruyckere…
When the artist takes himself as a model
Among the artists exhibited is a Frenchman, Fabien Mérelle, 41 years old.
Like many of his hyperrealist colleagues, he himself is the model for his recurring character.
“Since I had no place to work in the studio when I was at the Beaux-Arts in Paris, I found myself in my living room, with only this guy in pajamas to hand!
he says.
“It was an opportunity, without fear of offending anyone, to apprehend my own image, and also to laugh about it.
»
One of his sculptures, in wood, represents him haloed with birds.
The other, in bronze, shows him lying down, the lower part of his body transformed into a cut tree trunk.
With Fabien Mérelle, hyperrealism is tinged with poetry, directly inspired by "the magical thoughts of childhood", but also "a form of derision: it is the engine of my emotions and my reflections", confides the 'artist.
Go beyond the real to reach the dream
Although he produces hyper-realistic sculptures in his studio in Tours, Fabien Mérelle is aware that life is really impossible to falsify.
“Hyperrealism tells the story of life as close as possible, and it shows at the same time that we will never get there.
We arrive at a form of strangeness, which can be quite beautiful, but which can also be close to death.
Because a body that is not a real body, what is it?
Fabien Mérelle's work goes beyond the material representation of the body, which is limited, to move towards dreamlike, and this is where the exhibition in turn goes beyond the technical tour de force.
Art is a subterfuge that gives life to these bodies, precisely because they are beyond reality.
"Art allows you to do things that in real life are not possible, to tell a different story", continues the artist.
“What makes things hyperreal is not when you show everything, but when you give a primer so that the viewer can imagine something more.
His work on silicone, which is a material very close to the skin, has confirmed to him “the interest of recounting this disorder, this vain effort to get closer to creation, this form of incompleteness.
The more we want to go towards the representation of reality, the more it escapes us, and that's very beautiful.
»
When he finds himself face to face with his double in wood, bronze or paper, Fabien Mérelle also feels the visitor's confusion: “It's not always pleasant!
Seeing yourself from every angle is like hearing your own recorded voice.
But it's an extremely interesting subject when you take the step aside which allows you to look at your own body with a little humanity.
»
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