Christophe Doucet  

visual artist / sculptor, France

article by Sonja van Kerkhoff to come...

Translation by Rachel Bacon, Belgium, 1996

Christophe lives in Landes (south-west France). He not only lives in the forest but the forest is his inspiration, and his source of income since he also works as a forester. His sculpture incorporates three aspects of his life. His life as a forester, as a human being and as an artist. His world is the forest and in a sense the source of his existence, and his art is like a bridge between this world and human society. While the work itself is anthropromorphic it refers simultaneously to the fictional and the present everyday.

His works reveal the mystery of the forest and yet the forms are based on and are realised by concrete objects. So that the mystical is revealed through the use of common forms such as forest shelters and tools. The concrete aspects are what attract your attention which then allow you to engage with the unknown, and in this sense fiction and reality mix in his art, much as it does in everyday life.

Reviving the sense of the ritual in his work inspires his working process. He explores the boundaries of mortality and examines how to find equilibrium in the universe. He explores this by taking his subject-matter from the forest, and explores these forms through a conscious physicality and presence.

Many of his forms have an open end which is like a mouth or door revealing the interior or an interior space. The sense of presence in his work is due to their larger than human size -a parallel to nature which is his referent.

Filet (net) by Christophe Doucet,1993.

His use of wood or metals also contributess to the sense of the present in his forms. He uses wood and metal in particular because of their differing energies, vibrations and relationships that they have to each other. His also reinvents or remakes tools with similiar tools, and is fascinated by tools used to make tools. The working process itself is of importance to Christoph, where the cutting of a tree is a ritualistic part of the creative process.

Born in 1960 he grew up in the forest and has always lived there. His first artworks were signs and markers in the forest which established a geographic vocabulary determining what was his and not his. For him, this work served as a bridge between art and relevation, but he moved from this sort of work because he found it too abstract and returned to making objects with a strong physical presence.

In regards to his relationship with the Faith, he asks if nature can be categorized by a religion or belief? Are there Bahá´í clouds or a Bahá´í wind? No, he believes that nature is a messenger of the spirit and not confined or defined by any system.

He considered moving from Landes to Paris since Landes is so remote, but he decided to stay because he found he had something to nuture, defend and care for, and that is the richness of his existence in this place. Besides he doesn't feel removed from the concerns of his contemporaries on the contrary, he is involved in the contemporary art world. He has exhibited and participated in projects in Bordeaux, Bayonne, Paris and New York.

Artist Profile in Arts Dialogue, September 1996,
page 12.

Installation at the first Performances Conditionelles arts festival, hosted by Christophe in August 2001.

If you are interested in participating in a future festival, contact Christophe.

About the 2001 festival
About the 2003 festival

Christophe, tell me something about these works.