Laï Mordetta • Synthétiques H. 2M

In 1974, following an initial series devoted to the sculpture La Voix, Hiquily reunited with Dupouy to create two further series of “synthetics.” Thagmerra and Lai Mordetta, two sculptures from the “Traps” series, once again provided Hiquily with an opportunity to explore the question of wave-like movement in graphic terms. In doing so, he seems to dissolve boundaries that had previously appeared insurmountable between opposing realities such as movement and stillness, the abstract and the concrete, the visual and the tactile, the artwork and its image…

He even uses this process to question his own practice as a metal sculptor, producing in 1974 a print of one of these synthetics on an aluminum plate, creating a true mise en abyme of his artistic practice. The brass sculpture forged by the artist’s hand was first captured by a video synthesizer and reinvented on screen, before being fixed through photographic recording and reprinted onto metal.

These various processes, particularly innovative for their time, are techniques that firmly anchor Hiquily’s artistic practice and his reflections on form within a resolutely avant-garde approach.

This work is referenced in the artist’s Catalogue Raisonné (1948-2011) Vol.2, under No. 1123 – P 199