Marie-Noƫlle de La Poype
Marie-Noƫlle de La Poype
“Split 5” (2009) | Courtesy of Yoshii Gallery

Marie-Noƫlle de La Poype
Haiku
Yoshii Gallery
980 Madison Avenue

New York, NY 10075, USA
February 25-April 2, 2016

NEW YORK CITY |  Yoshii Gallery recently presented the sculptures of Marie-NoĆ«lle de La Poype for her inaugural solo exhibition in the United States. This exhibition paired new works from her “Sun” and “Split” series (2009-present) with traditional haiku (a Japanese short poetry form created in the 17th century).

Through clever metaphors and metonyms, haikus capture the essence of the natural world, daily life, and profound human feeling in only 17 syllables. This exhibition, entitled Haiku, features poems by literary masters Basho (d.1694), Buson

(d.1783), Tagami Kikusha (d.1826), and Takahama Kyoshi (d.1959). Like haiku, de La Poypeā€™s sculptures give a primary impression of simplicity, but on closer inspection they reveal much more. Sentiments and sensations recalled from another time and place. A subtle elegance only paralleled by nature itself.

Marie-Noƫlle de La Poype Sculpture #14, 2015 | Courtesy of Yoshii Gallery
Marie-NoĆ«lle de La Poype “Sculpture #14, 2015” | Courtesy of Yoshii Gallery

Marie-Noƫlle de La Poype was born in Belgium in 1949. She followed an unorthodox path to her vocation; studying art in her early life before earning a doctorate in law at the University of Brussels, and later representing Belgium as a champion golfer. She arrived as a sculptor as if by instinct, her vision ignited by the natural landscapes of Patagonia, South America and Anjou, France.

Her sculptural works make brief visual reference to 20th century biomorphism, before plunging into the unrecorded depths of planetary history. The raw aesthetics of each piece embody the artistā€™s primal devotion to the natural contours of the earth.

De La Poypeā€™s minimalist process reflects her reverence for the natural universe: She performs only slight alterations to the materials that she extracts from nature and mimics the forms of these organic structures with telluric mediums; metals and resins.

For her “Sun” and “Split” series (2009-present), de La Poype acts as a curator of the great works of the earth. Each sculpture in her “Sun” series recalls the moments when skies and land converge: Mountains illuminated by moonlight, the sunset over a quieting landscape. These works evoke the balance of the cosmos suspended in slate, cetacean bone, and resin.

Marie-Noƫlle de La Poype
Marie-NoĆ«lle de La Poype “Sculpture #11” (2014) | Courtesy of Yoshii Gallery

De La Poypeā€™s “Split” sculptures stand as monuments to the antiquity of the planet. Accentuating the contours of Anjou slate, each work is a textural world unto itself: They are redolent of humanityā€™s abiding bond with nature; the inexorable position of man as one of an infinity of fauna to traverse terra firma.

Japanese sculptor Isamu Noguchi (b.1904) said of stone, ā€œWhen I tap into it, I get an echo of that which we are. Then the whole universe has resonance.ā€ De La Poype amplifies this echo, revealing the relationship of man and nature through her poetic sculptures.

Marie-Noƫlle de La Poype currently lives and works in France. Her sculptures reside in a number of collections across Europe including the Museum of Contemporary Art Ixelles, Belgium, Palais Bulles, France, Le Foyer Collection, Luxemburg, as well as public and private collections in China and South America.

For further inquiries, please contact Yoshii Gallery: 980 Madison Avenue, New York at info@yoshiigallery.com or at 212-744-5550.

 

Image: Sculpture #6, 2015, Slate and resin 12 1/5 in x 14 1/3 in x 22 4/5 in

About Admin

CultureofOneWorld.org is a NYC-based production, event and media project devoted to U.S. news, foreign diplomacy, cultural issues, innovative art projects and journalism in the public interest. Learn more about the proprietor at MediaKit.RandyGener.org

Similar Posts

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.