Paul de Monchaux
Intrados, 1996
Purbeck spangle limestone
48 x 28 x 25 cm
18.9 x 11 x 9.8 in
18.9 x 11 x 9.8 in
Copyright The Artist
Further images
Monchaux’s sculpture is built around simple geometrical figures that, while inert in themselves, can come to life in the right combination; he compares them to notes of a piano. His...
Monchaux’s sculpture is built around simple geometrical figures that, while inert in themselves, can come to life in the right combination; he compares them to notes of a piano. His choice of material for a particular piece is determined by its ability to carry the form and distribute light across its surfaces. He has a long-standing interest in the sculptural origins of symbolic architecture and his recent work has drawn on historian Joseph Rykwert’s writing about the gender of columns. He does not make a distinction between his commissioned and freestanding work, regarding both as part of the same exploration. The shape of his sculptures is crisp, lucid and non-representational. Yet at the same time they are steeped in the human body. The longer one looks at his sculptures, the more subtle, complex and rewarding they become.
