Is this art ? A good friend who came with me to see «Excentrique(s) Travail in Situ» or perhaps « Excentriques(s) Art on the spot», did not think so. When I ventured to say that it was changing colour - she added that in a church with stained glass windows there would also be changing colours if the sun was shining in. Murielle is right but on the other hand, this work is colour - changing colour - and changing light. With every footstep I seemed to see another colour and another perspective of Daniel Buren’s work. Thanks to Claude who was our speaker, we had the time to look closer and see structures and colours which we may not have seen otherwise. Claude also described this creation as art.
Monumenta, is just that - monumental. Every year an artist is invited to «invade» the 13 500m2 and 45 metres of height in the Grand Palais. A work of art which is created for this space. Two of the five artists so far have created ephemeral works. Daniel Buren’s is one of them. He is one of France’s best know artists. 74 and when I saw him today at the exhibition, I wanted to go over and say hello. He seemed approachable as if he wanted to speak to his public. His work will be in the nave for 6 and a half weeks. I know him best for his vertical poles in black and white. He creates for a space and therefore his creations could not live elsewhere. It’s as if his work is there to transform the space and for us to see something else in the space itself. Just as I do when I see a contemporary artist’s work displayed in the Louvre. Suddenly I see what is around that work very much better. Here in the Grand Palais, the green on the metal structures seemed greener, the shapes on the nave where sharper and the dome itself larger than I could ever have imagined it in previous years
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| The first view on entering the nave |
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| And looking down a the dome |
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| Closing in on the dome |
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| Nearly under the dome |
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| looking to the right |
The sun was shining in
and the light on the plastic translucent film transformed the space as
we strolled though this cathedral of colour and light.
Even the poles
holding up the 377 circles in five different colours changed as the
light changed with them. Sometimes black and white, sometimes different
colours.
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| First look up .... |
And the dome changed colour when I moved from one circle to the next.....
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| The dome was covered in blue film too |
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| And under another circle of colour |
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| Another view again - I had moved a couple of steps |
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| Plunging donw into colour |
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| A sea of people |
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| The reflection |
In the centre there were
three mirors, globes on the ground. Stand on them and you plunge into a
sea of colours. Then walk up the staircase and there is a sea of circles
gleaming back at you. Change places and their colours seem to change
too. Depending on where you are standing, the colours are strong,
shining or dark and dusty.
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| Sun and Shade |
The heights of these
structures are different too. Three and the tallest being 7m50. Why
couldn’t there a 6m50? Not even a mathematician has worked that out. But
the height difference is difficult to see unless perhaps you are
looking for it. 6 days to install the creation.
Shorter to take it down ?  |
| Looking down from the staircase |
So is this a work of art ? Like so many installations, Buren’s work is short lived. Most of his work is. But the poles in black and white sign his creations and that changing light created by these sphere in their different colour maybe ephemeral but in my book, unforgettable.
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| Poles are black and white and colours have become dusty |
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| On the way out.... |
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