Kinetic Sculptures
From the exhibition Dans la tête de Louise Bourgeois at Art-image et Espace Odyssée,Gatineau, Québec
My installation, Les ti-neufs, is a series of nine wooden dolls referencing Louise Bourgeois' 9 plate intaglio series entitled, He disappeared into complete silence. The dolls' shapes are anthropomorphised geometric forms inspired by her surreal etchings and parables. I have attempted to make the dolls lovable through the logic of Bourgeois. They are all painted with an undercoat of blue, her favourite colour and sport legs with high heeled shoes, hands wearing gloves, as in her drawing, La femme fière d'elle même. With this project I attempted to channel Louise Bourgeouis' spirit and create what she may have done if she had worked with wood.
The nine dolls are carved from cedar and pine, lovingly coloured with handmade paints, Indian ink, gold leaf and beeswax. Arranged in a grid three by three on the wall, the dolls allude to Bourgeois' love of geometry. They hang on the wall like the drying vegetables of her youth. Their eerie shadows hint at the life, stories and secrets they hide within. In this work fantasy and reason are once again on equal terms. Les ti-neufs is a playful love letter crafted in wood to Bourgeois's ghost and amazing artistic legacy.