Marine de Soos: Conversations

Eight bronze sculptures by Marine de Soos have taken over the public space of the town of Fondettes, near Tours (France). Standing between the Halle de la Morandière and the botanical garden, these serene figures invite walkers to slow down and engage in a conversation beyond cultures and beyond time about what it means to be alive.

Conversations: this is the name given to the open-air exhibition that the town of Fondettes is dedicating to the sculptures of Marine de Soos. Conversations between the works themselves, with the space that houses them, and of course with the passersby who cross their paths. These eight large-scale figures show us men and women engaged in everyday activities: there is a fisherman, a flute player, a child at play, a young mother holding her newborn in her arms… Eight figures clearly from elsewhere: from another latitude and perhaps another era. Marine de Soos spent part of her childhood on the African continent. The memories she brought back from there are now superimposed on other images to nourish her imagination with composite pictures. This elsewhere that the artist invites us to see could well be an Arcadia without precise geography or time, where life flows at a pace more in harmony with nature. What is striking about these figures is indeed their serenity, further emphasized by their presence in public spaces: indifferent to the frenzy of urban life, Marine de Soos's sculptures invite us to slow down. In their dignity and simplicity, in the peaceful expression of their faces, they resonate with each of us: beyond their differences, they speak to us of the universality of feelings and emotions, of the strength and fragility of our condition, and of the simple joy of being alive. With poetry and delicacy, Marine de Soos shares the grace of a moment of life and a moment of creation: "I can only work when I am in the midst of emotion." What inspires me is everything I see in life that moves me: it might be the gesture of a hand, the position of a foot, or a tilted head… In these gestures and images, there is dynamism, joy, and the whole spectrum of emotions.” Marine de Soos is represented by the Artistics gallery. Cover photo: Marine de Soos, Grand cantique des pilotis (Great Canticle of the Stilts), bronze sculpture, 330 × 168 × 134 cm. © DR