Lilian Bourgeat, E-Cône

Even if sculptural gigantism stems from a centuries-old tradition which, since the beginning of Pop Art, has been increasingly open to the representation of everyday objects, to the point of giving the impression that everything has been said through this particular category of sculpture, contemporary artists such as Lilian Bourgeat continue to question excess and to give it a dimension that challenges and destabilises.

En effet, si l’agrandissement est chose commune dans la sculpture contemporaine, Lilian Bourgeat se sert des jeux d’échelle pour leurrer le spectateur, En choisissant de reproduire des objets du quotidien, il veut le confronter à un environnement d’apparence familier (des rocking chair, un salon de jardin,  des bottes, …) dans lequel il ne peut pourtant évoluer qu’avec difficulté. C’est un travail artistique au sein duquel le spectateur accède au rôle de participant, par exemple, Opening is a 2009 work made up of plastic cups larger than buckets into which visitors were invited to drink the opening cocktail (without the option of using real cups).

Lilian Bourgeat's work is based on the ambiguous relationship his works have with the viewer: while they challenge the viewer's relationship with the world, they can only 'exist' or at least take on their full meaning if someone is standing next to them to give them scale. Their extraordinary size only becomes apparent to the viewer through comparison with his or her own body.

Text by Roma Lambert