ART Habens Anne Cecile Surga worked its way alone into my mind . The minimalist form of the final sculpture allows the viewer to understand the theme of the work , while delivering a sense of playfullness and adventure which corresponds to my view of Love .
Despite the fact of being faced with a couple falling , the viewer can still interpret the scuplture in his own terms : is she pushing him ? Is she keeping him from falling ? Is he leading her ? Are they falling together ? All interpretations and all personal projections upon the work can be correct . As a child I was pretty impressed by a small devotion sculpture of Archangel Saint Michael Defeating the Demon that my grand-mother had ( and still has ) on her nightstand . The sculpture is quite graphic and is probably the cause of many childhood nightmares . However I did not develop a feeling of repudiation toward the theme of Saint Michael and the Demon , which is an image quite present in Christian countries .
On the contrary , I have a feeling of attachment toward this familiar imagery . The idea behind is for the viewer to understand that we as human are only limited by the constraints we impose on ourselves , not that much by the ones set by others . In other words , we are our own limits : believing we are not enough and thus not pursuing our destiny makes us our own ennemy . Very often people will tend to blame on external causes the reasons for their failures , or their life frustration . I personally tried to fit in a role that did not suit me out of fear ( of not being good enough , of the struggles ahead , etc ) before embracing my artistic undertaking . I did not force myself to reappropriate the theme of Saint Michael and the Demon to express this specific idea , the imagery somewhat imposed itself . Speaking of metaphors , I like to interpret the founding myths of society on different levels : here the angel Lucifer rebelled against God and lost his place in Heaven after being defeated by Saint Michael . I understand that at one point the personification of evil was part of the “ good side ,” but he was cast away because of his disobedience . As a metaphor I can understand that Evil is a part of Good , and vice versa . Which leads me to the internal battle everyone is fighting on a daily basis against their own selves : what we perceive as qualities in ourselves can be our major shortcomings , and what we consider as flaws can be our main assets . This is a never-ending battle where we cannot know which side has the upper hand .
There is this quote I recently came across by Walter M . Miller “ You don ’ t have a soul , Doctor . You are a soul . You have a body , temporarily ” which I think can be a starting point for my answer . One of the questions that is part of my investigation on the notion of identity is whether or not our own formal expression ( that is to say , the body we live in ) influences the way we define ourself or our identity . I do not have the answer to this question , but it is often in the back of my mind when I am creating a new work . The tension between physicality ( in the sense of corporeality ) and the psyche and how this relationship shapes our own image is really something that has kept me enthralled for a long time .
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