Applied arts - a new direction for my sculptural work

When I was having my solo show at the Chapelle de la Charité and the Hotel Jules César in Arles this summer 2022, I met Michel Vienne, the director of Art Lab City, a foundation that promotes the realisation of monumental sculpture in public spaces, in natural and urban environments.
He walked up to me and asked if I could imagine my abstract clay sculptures as a fountain … UTA - What do you mean? MV - Could you imagine this to be a maquette for a fountain in a public space? Pause… UTA - Mais oui! Yes! Totally! And even better! Not just a fountain to look at but a playscape to engage! With shallow waters and sand and kids emerged in their play-work, constructing future cities! And when exhausted by the heat of the summer and their intensive play, they will be running to the next space and laughing with delight among the water sprays, which emerge from the soil in a random pattern. Their parents and visitors sit down on organic inviting benches under luscious trees, watching bemused their children’s play and sighing in relief when taking in the occasional refreshing spray that comes their way.

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Proposal of a model for a playground in an urban environment

'Playscape' 2022 non-fired clay, white Dim, 40 x 60 cm
I have created a model for a landscape, a playground - a “playscape”. Inspired by the models of Noguchi and Giacometti I have given organic form to ancient mythological motifs. From a generous fountain flows water down the steps into a space where small water sprays emerge randomly from the soil. They form a pattern of swirling sunbeams, inviting children to run in between them and to guess where the next spray will emerge.A shallow water stream runs into the next space, where the children can mix water and sand and build sand castles and other futuristic buildings and landscapes. The whole is embedded in a voluptuously sculpted space that evokes soft maternal forms.
I believe that the urban environment has to evolve with the rights of nature and the needs of its temporary inhabitants. As the atmosphere is heating up we should create more space for vegetation in combination with water sources in the city. The evaporation of water will provide some cooling effect in an otherwise very mineral and hot urban environment. We could take inspiration from agglomerations in desert environments.
“Small is beautiful - La genèse de la sculpture à grande échelle” is the title of a new exhibition, organised by the association Art Lab City, at Hotel Jules Cesar, Arles, France, which offers a colourful parcours of 90 abstract sculptures by 23 artists from France and abroad. They are available in small and medium size, but could be imagined monumental in public spaces or private gardens. Each object presented is a sculpture in its own right and can be purchased.
From 16 September until 30 October 2022. Hotel Jules Cesar, Arles, 9 bd des Lices Part of Festival Été indien 2022, Arles

Genesis : The starting point

The proposed model is based on drawings and an earlier ceramic work (round, red fired clay, diameter 47 cm) which shows a motif from the neolithic time representing two does swirling around each other. The schematically portrayed body of a deer is transformed into a crescent. Like snakes or tails of comets, the two deers/does swirl in opposite directions over a sphere. The parallel lines of their bodies give an impression of rainclouds, which fertilise the soil of the earth.