Introduction

Esther Schipper is pleased to announce a summer collaboration with Domaine du Muy (Var) in the South of France, on view from May 30 through October 20, 2024.
 
Conceived 10 years ago by Jean-Gabriel Mitterrand and his son Edward, Domaine du Muy is a private park dedicated to monumental sculpture nestled in a wild landscape between the Maures and Esterel massifs. On the occasion of this first collaboration, Esther Schipper will present major sculptures by Martin Boyce, Angela Bulloch, Ann Veronica Janssens and Julia Scher in the Sculpture Park.
 
Conceived for indoors or outdoors, Angela Bulloch’s three sculptures on view – all from her Heavy Metal Stack series – consist of modular elements in painted stainless steel. The surfaces of the vertically assembled rhomboidal shapes are painted in two or three distinct colors. An optical illusion oscillating between two and three dimensions is created with the flat planes of color intensifying the works’ abstract qualities.
 
Warm Dry Stone and Palm Leaves (2010) by Martin Boyce is comprised of three painted steel bench-like forms positioned vertically and arranged to form a screen or paravent. The perforated steel of the benches carry a pattern made up of shapes inspired by Boyce’s ongoing engagement with the 1925 concrete cubist trees by Jan and Joël Martel. A bright yellow hose also produced in painted stainless steel is draped around the sculpture, suggesting it might have been left by someone, perhaps in the process of cleaning or maintenance. While Boyce’s oeuvre often includes forms drawn from classic architectural and design sources, it also references everyday urban objects and public space.
 
Ann Veronica Janssens’ Blue Glass Roll 405/2 (2019) consists of a cylinder of blue cast glass. The work evokes the notions of movement and time. By looking at it closely, one can perceive small nebulae of air bubbles trapped inside the cast glass. These ethereal traces attest to an ephemeral moment that occurred during the fabrication of the piece. During the long cooling process of the glass roll, the air present in the material attempts to expand and escape and creates bubbles that remain trapped in the body of the sculpture.
 
Perched on pedestals, Julia Scher’s sculptures, Jacqueline and Bernadette (both 2024), are at first glance two owls carved in beige marble. In the artist’s imagination however, the form of the owl is not strictly bird-like, the stance and legs are modeled on those of humans, specifically of men, while the imposing shoulders and brow are of human and horse origins. Even the owls’ coat is a mix of feathers and hair. Signifiers of wisdom and watchfulness, owl’s night vision and the ability to see prey make the animal a formidable hunter and predator, suggesting a subtle but wide-reaching analogy to surveillance technologies and their usages.
 
Domaine du Muy also includes a house restored by India Mahdavi with an indoor gallery where a selection of works by Martin Boyce, Rosa Barba, Angela Bulloch, Etienne Chambaud, Simon Fujiwara, Annette Kelm, Ann Veronica Janssens and Isa Melsheimer will be on view from July 11, 2024.

Visits by appointment only at paris@estherschipper.com