FRONT CONTRE FRONT, ENSEMBLE ! - 2024
Two giant bronze furculas rise from Place Saint-Germain-des-Prés into the Parisian sky. These 3-meter-high 'wish bones' are positioned face to face, forehead to forehead, to highlight the sporting confrontation at the heart of the 2024 Olympic summer. People come here to make a wish.
Marie-Laure sublimates the apparent insignificance of this chicken bone, the good-luck charm of her Sunday tables, a tradition that dates back to the Etruscans, 400 years BC.
Marie-Laure also created a limited edition of FRONT CONTRE FRONT, ENSEMBLE! in the form of 40 cm-high sculptures.
FRONT CONTRE FRONT, ENSEMBLE
FRONT CONTRE FRONT, ENSEMBLE
FRONT CONTRE FRONT, ENSEMBLE
FRONT CONTRE FRONT, ENSEMBLE
SEEDS OF LIFE - 2012
Marie-Laure Viébel is fascinated when she discovers the world's largest seed: rare and mysterious, the coco de mer, endemic to the Seychelles archipelago, is a natural wonder. It is indeed the seed of the large coconut of the coco de mer, which contains up to 3 of them, each weighing 20 kilos. These shapes are primitive and singular. They imitate femininity, a symbol of sensuality for some, fertility for others. Marie-Laure shapes and transforms them, sculpting them in other materials and dimensions to inscribe these rare symbols of nature's power in the long term.
GOLDEN SEEDS
Like icons, Buddhas and relics, the seed is covered in a golden mantle, the flesh of divinities.
A perfect metal, gold never rusts or sullies. It's the only metal that becomes cotton without ceasing to be iron. The pedestal of knowledge, the throne of wisdom, gold is also the symbol of knowledge, immortality and enlightenment. Marie-Laure chooses the "gilding in tempera" technique, polishing the gold with agate stone to give it a unique lustre.
BRONZE SEEDS
GRAINES DE BRONZE
GRAINES DE BRONZE
GRAINES DE BRONZE
GRAINES DE BRONZE
The GRAINE DE BRONZE is cast on a real coco de mer as if to inscribe it in eternity, as the palm tree, endemic to the Seychelles, is an endangered species. The sculptures' patinas vary according to Marie-Laure's inspiration, she also uses gold to celebrate this unique symbol of fertility and sensuality.
GLASS SEEDS
GRAINES DE VERRE
GRAINES DE VERRE
GRAINES DE VERRE
Reflections on the prism of life's colors. GRAINE DE VERRE exalts light, underlines the fragility and triumph of nature.
It took Gianni SEGUSO, Master Glassmaker in Murano, many months to push back the limits of and develop a specific technique for creating these GLASS SEEDS. There are no molds. Each piece is unique. The Master works for long hours, copying a matrix supplied by Marie-Laure. Two assistants transfer the glass mass from the workbench to the kiln. Once finished, the piece is placed in a "cooling oven" for three days, to allow the glass to slowly stabilize. In the final stage, the seed is ground to a polished finish, then engraved if necessary.
CABINET OF CURIOSITIES
Marie-Laure ventures into new creative territory by diverting her organic finds, such as driftwood, which she ennobles with gold. Marble, ceramics or glass, the artist confronts the materials that fascinate her to exalt their poetry.
