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Coming soon: François Malingrëy's solo exhibition in May 2023.
A look back at François Malingrey's gardener with flowers lying around.
Souvernis d'un géant, an article initially published on Beaux-Arts Magazine's website. Text by Maïlys Celeux-Lanval.
Leaning against the garden gate of the Museo Villa dei Cedri in Switzerland, François Malingrëy's giant is staring. Has it just fallen, pushed by an invisible force? Has it been there for ages, overcome by dark thoughts? Created especially for the exhibition "Hortus conclusus. The illusion of a paradise", this Gardener with lying flowers was sculpted in two huge polystyrene blocks by the artist in the winter of 2020, in his studio in Saint-Denis. A film, produced by Nano Ville Film, looks back on this titanic undertaking, which required François Malingrëy's help from those close to him.
"I don't have a very referential reading of the exhibition's theme, the artist confides. But in my work, there are always allusions: my character has a very Christ-like pose, like a foot call. The enormous gardener signals the end of his world, the museum park, and reminds us that we live in a finite world. This carnivalesque giant has been covered with a layer of resin that will allow it to resist (for a while) the elements. Its future after the exhibition remains uncertain for the moment, but it has given its creator the rare pleasure of sculpting - he who spends most of his time painting. A selection of François Malingrëy's paintings is currently on show at Le Feuvre & Roze gallery in Paris.
The gardener has moved from Museo Villa dei Cedri to his current, permanent home: the Pierre and Poppy Salinger Foundation in the Var (in the town of Le Thor to be precise). It is visible to all those who wish to visit him.
