Jean-Luc Moulène’s work is the perfect match for Centre Pompidou’s glass structure, blending as it does into the urban museum’s landscape. Wander around, retrace your steps and stay on the lookout for his pebble-like creations. Placed randomly, you might feel like you’re in the Hansel and Gretel story trailing breadcrumbs. The more time you spend staring at them, the more images unfold and soon enough, the sculptures delicately come to life.
A stonemason-cum-3D sculptor, Moulène’s works resemble stones and fossils, sculpted yet alive. The nature of his creations and the basis of their strange ambivalence cannot be defined – they are like physical optical illusions. Seeing them ‘in the flesh,’ as it were, makes them even stranger. Straddling science fiction and brutal realism, this retrospective oscillates between two worlds, that of production and that of the exhibition.
Before embarking on this journey, which is as timeless as futuristic, you should know that Jean-Luc Moulène was a mathematician. It is no coincidence that his works have an exacting, precise feel to them, like meteorites that have landed on the earth's surface. Elegant and astonishing, this exhibition takes us to the edge of several fused-together worlds. It’s a breach in space and time will both please and fascinate.
TRANSLATION: MEGAN CARNEGIE