The Terrestrial Helix of Orbière
The Terrestrial Helix of Orbière
“Archi – sculpture” or “epidermal” sculpture, this is how Jacques Warminski qualifies this monumental work, realized in five years in a layer of ground of eight to ten meters at the bottom of the troglodytic village of Orbière.
“Born from the result of a reflection on the form and its comprehension by the spectator, this sculpture out of standard has what to surprise and leave stunned.”[efn_note]Anjou Magazine[/efn_note]
An architect's sculpture, for the body...
“Archi-sculpture” not only because of its dimensions but especially because the first intention of the artist is to put your body to the test of shapes. It is not a simple object to look at but a succession of spaces to discover by letting the shapes play with your balance, your tactile, auditory, thermal, optical and olfactory sensations. He gives a helical movement to his archi-sculpture while establishing an elastic relationship between a dug underground space and a modeled aerial space which, he said, “are in echo of forms”. In the subterranean part, he gives us the unique experience of entering into the very matter of the sculpture which takes shape through its emptiness…
Propos de JW, rapportés dans le Magazine de La Pierre de mars 1992, relatifs au mode d’appréhension de l’œuvre :
“ Toute personne abordant cette réalisation plastique se déplace dans les formes, sur les formes, au-dessus des formes. Ainsi le corps est très sollicité dans ses déplacements, à cause du paysage sculptural : j’oserais dire, autant par les pieds que par l’œil ”.
“ C’est par la démarche et l’observation que l’individu franchit le sas de ces climats plastiques, le passage du monde couvert au monde découvert. C’est aussi délicat de passer d’un monde enveloppé à un monde développé, d’un monde du silence à un monde à tout vent. A l’intérieur on crée des trous d’air… A l’extérieur, dans le volume d’air, les pleins de la matière prennent la place de l’air. C’est le rythme de l’expiration… et de l’inspiration…”
Jacques Warminski
Jacques Warminski, 1946 -1996
Born on March 18, 1946 in Angers (France) from parents of Polish origin, Jacques Warminski trained as a draughtsman from 1963 to 1966 at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Angers. In 1967, he entered the Ecole Boulle in Paris to study interior design.
Intrigued since his childhood by the world of troglodytes in the Saumur region, his student career was interspersed with research trips to the Mediterranean basin, Greece, Yugoslavia, Turkey and Spain.
Back in Maine et Loire, Warminski rushes to work, accumulating exhibitions photos, painting, installations… intervening from Fontevraud to Angoulème, from Royan to Chinon, while gradually investing since the 1980s the spaces of the troglodyte village of Orbière by maturing what will be his major work: the Terrestrial Helix.
As a visual artist, he frees himself from classical conceptions by exploring the visual arts in various directions such as drawing, graphics, photography or sculpture. His creations often take on an architectural dimension in the form of installations in which the public is invited to move.
Since 1976, Jacques Warminski has been creating numerous ephemeral plastic art spaces that offer new sensory experiences and combine unexpected materials, both natural and contemporary (fabric, bolduc, cars, doors and windows, grass, concrete, clay, tufa, sand, wood…).
On several occasions, his installations pay direct homage to the work of François Rabelais, or suggest us the filiation, as Alain Mariez judges in his article “Warminski, the ogre cosmo-tellurien”. Speaking about the Earth Helix, he “cannot help thinking that Rabelais (…) was the malignant genius who inspired the artist: the underground gallery of Warminski indeed resembles very much these three guts of the ass by which Gargantua transited before leaving by the left ear of Gargamelle. “[efn_note]Warminski, the cosmo-tellurian ogre Alain Mariez[/efn_note]
This impressive character, Rabelaisian in his daily life and relentless in his work, also knew how to share his passion. “Pedagogue with the little ones as well as with the grown-ups, he had the intelligence of the heart. ” [efn_note]Nouvelle République November 6, 1996[/efn_note]
“Jacques Warminski died of a heart attack on November 4, 1996 in his thick wool socks, in his thick ageless sweater, and in his Earth Helix.”[efn_note]Warminski, the cosmo-tellurian ogre Alain Mariez[/efn_note]
1976 “Dans l’épaisseur”, Espace in Angers
1977 “Ex-position” at the Sorbonne (Concours Fénéon)
1978 “Listening to a photograph – Luciano Berio
1979 Bellied hills and ploughed skins: “Landscapes and faces of the Loire earth”. Photo exhibition “Centre Culturel de l’Ouest
1981 “Above the roots grow underground” Space at the Orbière (Ministry of Youth and Sports)
1981 “Footprint of Gargantua” in Chinon “Vienne – Survienne”.
1985 Composition, decomposition, it matures, it embellishes, it ages: “Wavy space”. Space at the Orbière (FIAC and Ministry of Culture)
1986 Conception of a pot for child “turning on its base”.
1987 Aeolian harps of plastic cables stretched in situ and vibrating at the slightest wind: “Trans-portes and elastic hinges” Space at the Orbière
1987-88 “GART aerial grass, rail more and more ground” Museum of Fine Arts of Angers
1988-93 “The Earthly Propeller” Space at the Orbière
1994 “Les Délices terrestres” at the Orbière
1995 “Lie on the bed of the Loire”, edge of the Loire in Cunault
Phone : +33.2.41.57.95.92
E-mail : contact@heliceterrestre.com
Owners of the website :
Association Artrodytespace,
6 l’Orbière, Saint Georges des Sept Voies, 49350 Gennes Val de Loire
Conception :
Graphic design and web-design by Etienne Cerneau inspired from the work ofJacques Warminski
Host :
O2 Switch
Siret : 510 909 807 00024
RCS Clermont Ferrand
SARL au capital de 100 000€
Opérateur Télécom déclaré ARCEP
09/2989 – AS50474
o2switch est une société du groupe Zohey
SAS au capital de 8 000 000€