Figure Eight in Flight, 2006

Text & contact sheet
  • Figure Eight in Flight, altarpiece, 2006

  • Project for the back of the altarpiece

Folding version (altarpiece): Articulated structure in black painted steel.
Front: three color photographs under mat diasec. Back: black painted steel plates with white pencil text.
Dimensions: open 208 cm x 82 cm, closed: 103 cm x 82 cm. Thickness: 3 cm.
3 copies.
Other flat versions.
Figure Eight in Flight, 2006
Funeral octagon of the Hôtel Dieu, Montmorillon, France
Carte blanche from the association L'Empreinte for a temporary exhibition
Dancer: Anne Laurent
Carbon and fabric sculptures

The shape of the altarpiece derives from the location: the altar stands out in the Octagon as a privileged presentation space, the final stage in this place where the photographs were taken.
With the religious symbolism of the sign 8, linked to baptism and the resurrection, I associated that of infinity ∞.

The altarpiece revolves around three elements: the eight, the infinite, and the human figure.
The title Le 8 envolé (Figure Eight in Flight) evokes the balance between life and death.
In the central panel, the sign of infinity (eight lying for the Romans), grabs the character towards the horizontal.
The side panels feature an 8 and a flying figure, both vertical.
The 8 sign like that of infinity is associated with the snake which bites its tail, with renewal, with life that resumes: man escapes from his condition as infinity makes the eight escape from the suite of the numbers.
It is art that turns and returns life in its hands.


Extracts from the workbook to see in the Workbooks section