The Beginning
2015-2019...
250 clones of volcanic rocks made of tinted resin
60 x 140 x 800 (23.6 x 55 x 315 inches) (variable dimensions)

"In the centre of the nave, cloned from one and the same rock, the slide of volcanic scree, which the artist has arranged lengthwise on a slightly sloping incline, obliges the viewer to embark upon an almost mystical journey through the experience of time. The amorphous appearance of their lithic cores, colour-impregnated according to a procedure of gradual intensity not unlike a Renaissance chiaroscuro, makes them look like lapidary objects from the very depths of the earth. Entitled Le Commencement (The Beginning, 2015–19), this installation – an augmented version of a previous model – 'addresses both the question of origins through the notion of multiplicity and terrestrial volcanic activity and that of our relationship to nature at its most primitive and elemental in this disconcerting attempt to supplant it through cloning', in the artist's own words. A metaphor of the birth of a form, it examines the notion of duplication – ever the same but never identical." (Philippe Piguet).