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CAVIN-MORRIS GALLERY

  • Exhibitions
    • Current Exhibitions
    • Upcoming Exhibitions
    • Past Exhibitions
  • Artists
    • Self-Taught (A-L)
    • Self-Taught (M-Z)
    • Contemporary
    • Ceramicists (A-L)
    • Ceramicists (M-Z)
  • Publications
    • Catalogs
    • Books
  • Fairs
  • Appraisals
  • Fieldnotes
  • Accessibility
  • New Arrivals
  • Contact

Forest Amuletum: New Sculpture by Ghyslaine and Sylvain Staelens

View fullsize   Sylvain and Ghyslaine Staelens    Personnage  , 2013 Wood, metal, cloth, found objects 38.5 x 17 x 12 inches 97.8 x 43.2 x 30.5 cm GSS 23
View fullsize   Sylvain and Ghyslaine Staelens    Personnage Soleil  , 2014 Wood, metal, cloth, found objects 42 x 20 x 9.5 inches 106.7 x 50.8 x 24.1 cm GSS 30
View fullsize   Sylvain and Ghyslaine Staelens    Princess  , 2014 Wood, metal, cloth, found objects 34 x 15.5 x 8 inches 86.4 x 39.4 x 20.3 cm GSS 31
View fullsize   Sylvain and Ghyslaine Staelens    Cavalier  , 2015 Wood, metal, cloth, found objects 26.5 x 29 x 14 inches 67.3 x 73.7 x 35.6 cm GSS 36
View fullsize   Sylvain and Ghyslaine Staelens    Personnage Totem  , 2014 Wood, metal, cloth, found objects 44 x 22 x 10 inches 111.8 x 55.9 x 25.4 cm GSS 32
View fullsize   Sylvain and Ghyslaine Staelens    Personnage Violet  , 2014 Wood, metal, cloth, found objects 33 x 14.5 x 9 inches 83.8 x 36.8 x 22.9 cm GSS 33
View fullsize   Sylvain and Ghyslaine Staelens    Cavalier  , 2015 Wood, metal, cloth, found objects 35 x 47 x 13 inches 88.9 x 119.4 x 33 cm GSS 37
View fullsize   Sylvain and Ghyslaine Staelens    Cavalier  , 2015 Wood, metal, cloth, found objects 42 x 42 x 23 inches 106.7 x 106.7 x 58.4 cm GSS 38
View fullsize   Sylvain and Ghyslaine Staelens    Cavalier  , 2015 Wood, metal, cloth, found objects 29 x 28 x 10 inches 73.7 x 71.1 x 25.4 cm GSS 39
View fullsize   Sylvain and Ghyslaine Staelens    Cavalier  , 2015 Wood, metal, cloth, found objects 26 x 29 x 11 inches 66 x 73.7 x 27.9 cm GSS 40
View fullsize   Sylvain and Ghyslaine Staelens    Personnage  , 2015 Wood, metal, cloth, found objects 69 x 19 x 11 inches 175.3 x 48.3 x 27.9 cm GSS 41
View fullsize   Sylvain and Ghyslaine Staelens    Personnage Indien  , 2015 Wood, metal, cloth, found objects 64 x 16 x 10 inches 162.6 x 40.6 x 25.4 cm GSS 42
View fullsize   Sylvain and Ghyslaine Staelens    Personnage  , 2015 Wood, metal, cloth, found objects 66 x 21 x 14 inches| 167.6 x 53.3 x 35.6 cm GSS 43
View fullsize   Sylvain and Ghyslaine Staelens    Totem   , 2015 Wood, metal, cloth, found objects 73 x 25 x 11 inches 185.4 x 63.5 x 27.9 cm GSS 44
View fullsize   Sylvain and Ghyslaine Staelens    Personnage  , 2015 Wood, metal, cloth, found objects 65.75 x 18.9 x 9.45 inches 167 x 48 x 24 cm GSS 45
View fullsize   Sylvain and Ghyslaine Staelens    Le Chasseur  , 2015 Wood, metal, cloth, found objects 42.52 x 12.99 x 7.09 inches 108 x 33 x 18 cm GSS 46
View fullsize   Sylvain and Ghyslaine Staelens    Guerrier  , 2015 Wood, metal, cloth, found objects 51.57 x 15.75 x 9.84 inches 131 x 40 x 25 cm GSS 47
View fullsize   Sylvain and Ghyslaine Staelens    Tête Noire  , 2015 Wood, metal, cloth, found objects 45 x 16 x 10 inches 114.3 x 40.6 x 25.4 cm GSS 48
View fullsize   Sylvain and Ghyslaine Staelens    Totem   , 2015 Wood, metal, cloth, found objects 66 x 29 x 17 inches 167.6 x 73.7 x 43.2 cm GSS 49
View fullsize   Sylvain and Ghyslaine Staelens    Petit Personnage Rouge  , 2015 Wood, metal, cloth, found objects 42 x 13 x 10 inches 106.7 x 33 x 25.4 cm GSS 50

FOREST AMULETUM: New Sculpture by Ghyslaine and Sylvain Staelens

(MAY 7 - JUNE 13, 2015)

Ghyslaine and Sylvain Staelens make sculpture unlike anyone else in the world of art, trained or untrained. They are untrained. Their work seems steeped in ancient European history, especially from the marginalized viewpoints of mysterious hermits, heretic witches and pilgrims of no obvious religion, with a touch of organic Star Wars thrown in. Much of this has to do with their taking in the lore of the isolated part of volcanic France they chose to live after fleeing the urban madness of Paris. 

In their sparsely populated village is an old church dedicated to the Black Virgin, whose roots go back to ancient Portugal. Although the statue of the Virgin is now ensconced in a French museum, the 12th Century church, once a destination point for pilgrims, is still there. The landscape has absorbed the mystery and vitality of those earlier days, as the Staelens have absorbed the landscape into their process, making tough and poetic sculpture from materials they gather and recycle.

Their sculptures come from the forest. They do not tell us who or what they are, they do not give away any information other than what is told by the pieces themselves; by the hooded garments they wear, the spears they carry and the composure of their bodies, and the basic materials—exposed lava, metal, stones, wires and textiles--in surprising variety and complexity. Some of them are mounted, half horse, half-human.

The sculptures appear as beings that have made their homes in a real forest, in a cultural dance between dimensions, they will decide if you can enter; if they choose you, they will protect you forever. Though medieval at first glance, they are very much in the present. Nothing ever looked like them. They own whatever space they guard. They protect integrity.

For further information, please contact: 212-226-3768, or info@cavinmorris.com.

Wednesday 05.13.15
Posted by caroline casey
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