Contemporary artist Gilles Barbier's sculptural installation titled L'ivrogne, translated as The Drunk, depicts a sullen man, down on his luck. Replicated after the artist himself, the figure has a spiraling whirlwind of thoughts physically emerging from his head. The artist uses his masterfully sculpted clone to give us a glimpse into a drunkard's inner rumination, which appears to be quite hectic.
The metaphorical visual made of wax and mixed media displays a circus of objects ranging from dreamy stars and clouds to violent bombs and dynamite, not to mention the ominous crows and skulls. There's something sad yet lively about Barbier's work. Though the man appears to be going through a rough time, perhaps having fallen in his drunken stupor, his dizzying thoughts are filled with vivacious vigor. There's a cartoonish appeal to his winding imagination that can't be contained.
Gilles Barbier website
via [pulmonaire, toothbreaker, hanneorla]
