Deroubaix
Damien Deroubaix
Homo Bulla, 2011
Glass sculpture on wooden base
230 x 131 x 131 cm
Unique artwork
l'artiste & Galerie in Situ - fabienne leclerc, Paris
Damien Deroubaix
Homo Bulla, 2011
Detail
Damien Deroubaix
Homo Bulla, 2011
Detail
Damien Deroubaix
Homo Bulla, 2011
Detail
Damien Deroubaix
Homo Bulla, 2011
Detail
Damien Deroubaix
Homo Bulla, 2011
Alternative view
Damien Deroubaix
Homo Bulla, 2011
Alternative view
A work of such aesthetic and symbolic breadth as Homo Bulla has the power of a magical revelation and resembles a dreamlike apparition rather than material reality. This mysterious, simultaneously robust and fragile work is situated in the spheres of sublimation and transparency. The glass elements resonate with the stilss, spheres, decanters and crucibles seen in traditional representations of alchemists.
Created in 2011, Homo Bulla is the result of a collaborative work between the artist and artisan glassblowers from the Centre International d'Art Verrier in Meisenthal (France). With the help of small manual milling machines, the artist engraved motifs from the Heidelberg Dance of Death on several glass spheres that were cold-glued onto two glass plates. Sitting on a base, this two-tiered transparent sculpture encapsulates various characteristic elements of the memento mori : skeletons, speech bubbles, shells and glassware, symbols of the fragility and futility of existence. [...] This fascinating sculpture, solid but vulnerable is a metaphor for the human condition. The glass spheres are like the crucibles in which life emerged from shapeless matter.
Catalogue Damien Deroubaix, HEADBANGERS BALL, édition des Musées de Strasbourg, 2018
