Entretiens sur l'art with Lou Masduraud
Entrusted since 2021 to critic and curator Jill Gasparina, the ‘Entretiens sur l'art’ (Interviews about Art) series, which for over 20 years has built up a formidable collection of artists' words, will from now on be looking closely at the materiality and conditions of emergence of the works of the guest artists.
Escape plans, contortion cabinets, active substances, petrifying basins—even before one experiences any visual or tactile contact with her work, the titles that Lou Masduraud gives to her pieces and series make it clear that her practice oscillates between two poles: the development of a dreamlike universe where bodily experience is fundamental, and a desire to engage sculpture in a pursuit of political and ecological emancipation. But are these truly opposing poles?
Though her works operate on various scales—from jewelry, ornamental detail, the body, all the way to monumentality—fountains, basement vents, and skeletons have become recurring forms around which her artistic work has been structured in recent years. Critical and formal research are freely interwoven. For example, during a residency in Rome, she studied fountains from the Fascist era, and in Montreuil, she led a participatory workshop with local residents, using ceramic practices as a way to reflect on the municipality’s institutional landscape. Her practice is also marked by a central focus on production methods and their value. Over time, she has learned to master a range of artisanal techniques (casting bronze, carving marble…), conventional methods that she subverts and blends with more experimental—even punk (and humorous!)—approaches, such as patinating copper with slices of pickles. In doing so, she shapes “a body of work as a continuum between social and intimate space” (Julien Fronsacq), but also between ecosystems and communities, unfolding from underground spaces to the open air.
