GASK Gallery 2013 Yvo Jacquier & Veronika Wünschová Tina B Festival Kutná Hora
Yvo Jacquier & Veronika Wünschová build their installation like a dialogue between the Earth and the Sky, and between a woman and a man. The theme of this contemporary art festival is On the rainbow, that symbolically associate the bird and the snake.
Instal lation
Cupidon Yvo Jacquier and Veronika Wünschova approach their project with the two old symbols of the rainbow, that take the form of a dialogue between the bird and the snake. The snake (close to the ground) and the bird (vanishing in the sky) have been the first elementary way to orientate in space. Some neolithic crosses are accompanied by the snake and the bird. THE SNAKE expresses vital energy, and its representation is double. The two snakes of Mercury refer eg to the lines of Yoga (Kundalini, and also parthenogenesis and DNA). This energy of (instinctive) desire pushes ahead, and it is rather temporal and worldly. TouchCouch THE BIRD expresses the call of the soul, and it becomes an angel, timeless by nature. In this particular case, the angel is Cupidon: the most active with humans.
The diapason of this installation is the universe of a famous engraving, by Albrecht Dürer: «MELENCOLIA I» (1514). The primitive symbols have evolved from their rough definition up to the world of Renaissance. Several elements of this picture have won a mythical status in the history of art. The polyhedron has been a great enigma for a long time. Mathematicians have recently solved its proportions, thanks to the discovery of sketches from the hand of the artist. Yvo Jacquier made many further discoveries about its structure. The ladder in the background is identified as the ladder of Jakob. There is nothing particular about it, just the correspondance of its seven bars with the colors of the rainbow. In fact, this piece of wood is a doorway to the culture of Renaissance. The perspective box allows to compare two different points of view. At the front of the picture, a sign marks the focus point. It is the position of the observer, according to the laws of the perspective system. And when we put one eye at this place, the ladder seems to be ok. It fits with the hole. But in the background, we get the truth... Polyèdre Perspective Box
Touch Couch
TouchCouch Veronika Wünschová The dialogue between the bird and the snake needs a comfortable place on the ground. And maybe this dialogue will implicate two reptilian brains! Two spirals, blue and yellow (the components of green, color of love) are moving around the same heart. Ceramics keep shining after centuries. Each tale is a part of eternity. This type of seat is called confident by French people (confidant in english), but also tête-à-tête. It appeared during XIXth century in Paris. You can speak to your neighbor without turning the head. In other words, you are facing your partner in a very intimate mood. This situation reminds us of dance, which is the total dialogue. More than a talk, a concrete sharing. On the curvy faces of the couch, the fundamental elements find life on the Earth, and they mix their waves and their colors. These four elements are already involved in the manufacture of ceramics, which are born of a wet ground, and go into the fire after drying in the air. These symbolic synthesis will be also the message of the polyhedron through the geometry of its forms...
Everyone is surprised by the comfort of this settee. Each part of its large puzzle was built custom-tailored. The matter, the color, and the angles of its cut had to be sandpapered. During the night of St. John, with a temperature of 38 C, five women have lent a hand to finish.
In art, inspiration comes at first and without explanation. It confess the secrets of its spring a long time after. A great challenge was to reconcile the snakes slipping between the moving forms of this landscape. They are not swallowed nor out of the scene. Under the bright colors of the enamel, there is the bonding matter, the glue, the beton, the fibreglass, the polystyrene, but at first there is a sketch, a drawing inspired by a sign of Melencolia. Beauty makes us free, as it feeds our soul.
Cupidon
Cupidon Yvo Jacquier The TouchCouch presents a shifting nature, in which the snakes are in a way Gods. In that precise case the bird is a God. They are not so many to wear wings on the God, like Love, cannot be explained. You meet, or not. tamed by grace. They move harmoniously around the heart symbol. As an answer of the sky, Cupidon represents the bird, educated by magic. There could not be any dialogue between two beasts, at best a competition. So the symbolic is civilized, even its birds becoming angels, Holy Spirit, and messengers of shoulders. And the archers are rather rare in the world of Gods. Apollo has a bow, but this attribute appears more often with his sister Diana. Cupidon is very special on a lot of points. He is the closest to humans, in playing an important role in their life. He brings love. What could be more important?
In Melencolia, by Dürer, Cupidon closes one eye and he aims with the other as an archer. He also holds his tablet and his stylus like a bow and an arrow. This reminds the myth of Horus, the falcon. This egyptian God lost an eye in the battle to avenge his father Osiris. This missing eye became the oudjat s eye, closed during calculation while the other aims the angles of geometry. Dürer adds a very personal message through his Cupidon. He writes instead of using his bow. Love, which was in the air, is ending in a book? Cupidon quits his job? In this exhibition, as a tribute to Dürer, the feathers of the angel become human words. The shadow of Icarus passes... One more connection with the TouchCouch, towards which the words are flying. But Cupidon is also on the startingblocks. He is ready to rise at any signal, any vibration. He is watchful. He has the eyes of the archer, one closed and one open, but he could bring the arrow personally, if necessary. The son of Venus and March has also an astrologic meaning. The two planets are associated, through his presence at the top point of the installation. He resolves differences, oppositions even misunderstandings, by the principle of fusion. Who could oppose a child? The only one child in the band of Gods. So the words on the feathers look sometimes like childish games. This way of telling tames our sadness. I miss you. I do not know if that is enough to be loved, I know it suffices to be sad. At this place, so far in the air, one could miss him. The small ray of a simple bulb warms the plaster. Do not keep your head down, when passing near love.
Only Love gives the feeling of being unique.
Polyèdre
Polyèdre Yvo Jacquier In this installation, the polyhedron of Dürer represents the Earth (inhabited), between the terrestrial life (TouchCouch) and the celestial life (Cupidon). This is a typical point in the symbolic: all elements are defined according to the others. The connections are much more important than e.g. the attributes. The original form is a cube, marked by the integer 4, which is inclined by the magic of φ, the golden ratio, to get a rhombohedron. This rhombohedron is the base of the show. The first purpose of this soft construction is to reveal the simplest lines of the first cut. At this occasion, we see that the final form stands by itself, without fixing the articulations. The gravity effect is enough. The edges of the solid are enlightened by LED light. We decide to limit the LED effects, by respect to other installations, very close. The polyhedron makes cross two sets of three faces, number that designates the triangle. So the solid is also referring to 3. In this demonstration, the man born symbolically on Earth (4) goes to heaven (3). The account of the apexes is the result of the multiplication of 3 by 4, id est 12. If we add the pentagrams, the hexagrams (with the opposite triangles), the eight faces, Whatever was mortal in Albrecht Dürer lies beneath this mound. Epitaph for Albrecht Dürer, by Willibald Pirkheimer the eighteen edges, a very large part of the symbolic vocabulary is shown. Behind, the golden ratio is operative.
The Earth, as a planet, can not be expressed by one of the classical elements (Earth, Water, Air, and Fire). All of them are present. So the solid which Everyone wants to find a source of inspiration of Dürer. Nobody understands that he was simply inspired. represents the Earth has to assume all, through numbers. At last, a very symbolical fact signs this purpose: the two spheres (inscribed and circum) are showing the angle of the Earth on the ecliptic, which is called obliquity. The inscribed sphere touches the wide faces in the middle of their structural circle (the middle of two pentagrams). These points are called Ω. The line which joins the top of the great sphere and Ω is very close to 23,5 (obliquity). Last point: The Pythagorean theorem is enough to resolve the equations of the spheres (full of golden ratio). Their ratio is very close to 5/3.
The vacuum is as important as the full, and the reflections are as important as the light of the edges. These multiple readings of the object allow to see its real dimensions, which are symbolical. The «3 cm deep swimming pool», hexagonal, reflects the shadow of the bars on its water. The vertical wall, behind, deforms the regular shapes of the polyhedron. And through the empty space, between the edges, we can see the TouchCouch, real and solid, with similar lines between its tiles. All is dialogue and echo in this exhibition, referring to the music of the spheres that Plato presented in his «Timaeus». Johannes Kepler wil be on this way to create Science. One solid was missing in his collection: the polyhedron of Dürer. Maybe not perfect enough for his taste...
Perspec tive Box
Perspective Box MELENCOLIA I by Albrecht Dürer Yvo Jacquier This perspective box by Yvo Jacquier allows to compare two different points of view concerning the same ladder. On the front of the picture of MELENCOLIA, the sign > points a precise place for the eye, called focus point. It is the position of the observer, according to the laws of the perspective system. When we put one eye at this place, the orientation of the uprights and the bars are the same like in the engraving of Dürer. It fits with the hole. The second point of view is behind the scenes: a 3D reconstitution. We discover that the ladder that we see in the conditions of the perspective is not normal! More: this proposal belongs to an infinity of possibilities. But this position is the less abnormal one, and it is the limit of a fantastic geometrical equation...
The general study of the perspective of Melencolia has been viewed and approved by a specialist in the school of architecture of Paris. The focal distance is abnormally short from the eye to the frame of the work. However this distance can be established due to the lines of the sand glass, which is hexagonal, and confirmed by other elements. geometry. This engraving belongs to a huge project of Dürer. The images define a real language by mixing their drawings like the words of a text. The syntax is assumed by sacred geometry, which has been used at first by old civilizations to build their temples, and their pyramids, up to the apotheosis of Renaissance. So this ladder uses the rules of perspective for showing a virtual image without respecting the rules of the reality. This first lesson from Albrecht Dürer, pionnier of the perspective system, is to warn us about the illusions that abuse our judgement. This consciousness appeared since Renaissance, and didn t wait for the great Esher! The second lesson needs more developments. In Melencolia, the perspective system is under the control of an other one, called sacred
Feathers
Feathers Yvo Jacquier The feathers of Cupidon rob the rainbow and they find a second life. Their flight take a other meaning: they were useful in white, they make sense in color. They belonged to a God, in a celestial abstraction. They become human with writing: the place where the meaning beats our ears. We can sell everything with words, but not buy anything. These words, written by hand on the feathers, are gathered on a web page in three langages (french, english and czech). They are accessible at the address: jacquier.org/mes_mots/
Veronika Wünschová Yvo Jacquier Graduated from a School of Applied Arts in Prague. She creates graphics on computer, and enters in religion with ceramics. Born in 1966 and works in Prague. Veronika and Yvo belong to a large teem of artists in various domains. Theater, tango, music are crossing their waves and their energy. They built their installation in a very creative context. Classical painter from 80 to 2002, his production had a long break. He studied the art of composition in the history of art and architecture. For 10 years, his masters have been Dürer, Rublev, Botticelli, but also the builders of pyramids (Egypt) or the sculptor of Conques tympanon. Many signifiant publications are in progress, in the fields of geometry, art and history. They bring unedited proofs for a new vision and a better understanding of symbolic. This is the right time to come back on the stage of art. Born in 1958 (France), and works in Prague.