Reorneadora – 2.2M Philippe Hiquily

Dimensions : 139 × 220 cm
Year : 2006
Material : Welded or corten steel
Signature : Signed Hiquily
Editions : Edition of 8

More informations

Referenced in the Artist's Catalogue Raisonné (1948-2011) Vol.1, under No. 628 - P 409
LOFT Editions, 2011, Ref: 628 - 06.Scu.Reor.Ed.F.220

PUBLICATION

Philippe Hiquily and Wang Keping: Sculpture and Sensuality, exhibition at Galerie LOFT, as part of the Art Saint-Germain-des-Près event, from May 14 to 17, 2009 (220 cm)

PHILIPPE HIQUILY : « DIRECT METAL », BETWEEN TRADITION AND MODERNITY

In the early 20th century, metal sculpture imposed its technical and aesthetic qualities over bronze’s noble ancestry. The sculptors who privileged the medium of metal increased its attributes with the language of their time.

The technique that Hiquily made his own was now inseparable from his style. Metal’s intrinsic qualities brought the stylistic answers Hiquily was seeking. Its toughness, ductility, malleability and resistance allowed him to approach sculpture from several different angles : line, surface and volume. He realised that volume in space is more important than volume in the mass and is a constituent part of the sculpture. He also saw that the solidity of its physical presence in space made for a tangible approach. Hiquily used assemblage to create spatial volumes and to write in space. By organising planes and volumes, lines of force, their orientation and the resulting equilibrium, a sculpture needed to be a solid construction with a well defined form. A form whose harmonious necessity came from life.

Another feature of his sculpture is the frontality that derived from his aban- donment of volume in favour of a graphic inscription that would have suf- ficient volume for the form to be explained. He used oxy-acetylene or direct welding to join the pieces together, a procedure that works by heating both sides up to a molten state. It requires an inventive, ever-watchful frame of mind and also an artisan’s qualities of workmanship.

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