Civilisation of the look
SELF-PORTRAIT
Plaster, silicon, pigment
2018
This sculpture is a self-portrait where the experience of an atrophied vision is represented in a brutal and literal way. The white of the plaster accentuates the mortuary vision tied to the emptiness in its eyes. Two black holes replace the eyeballs, passing through the head to reveal two tunnels with bloody walls.
This sculpture illustrates the double meaning of the expression ‘to stare into space’. Visually, we can see through its eyes. In a sinister way, we can experience what would be a tunnel vision. If we get close enough, we can gaze at the inside of the tunnels and perhaps even experience a scopic drive close to voyeurism. The involvement of the spectator gives the sculpture the ability to see.
Header image : Argus Panoptes looking at 'Identity, now you are a Martial Raysse' of Martial Raysse.
In Greek mythology, Argus, was a primordial giant whose epithet, « Panoptes », « all-seeing », led to his being described with multiple, often one hundred eyes.
Here we play the game of imagining the total surveillance, like Argus Panoptes who sees everything, Gaël plays the role of Panoptes, it’s a self-fiction.