Monique Thibaudin
« Forme Hybride » (Hybrid Form)
2014
Height: 30 cm
Ceramics, bones, acrylic
The sculpture by Monique Thibaudin is a pacing anti-bust. These black legs with the lower body part executed until under the bosom are crowned by a yellow painted duck skull. The same colour is used for the right food, which – in contrast to the human looking left foot – seems to be as well from a bird. It is one of Monique Thibaudin’s hybrid anti-busts.
It contains human body elements as well as animal components. Here are different essentials mixed up into one, more or less consistent. The bird foot develops underneath the ankle without a rupture. The only dissonance is the changing colour above the ankle. That’s the hint to the unexpected completion. At the same time this accentuation underlines the movement of pacing forward. This effect of motion was inspired by Alberto Giacometti’s sculpture “L’Homme qui marche” (The Man who Walks). Nevertheless, in opposition to Giacometti Monique opted for a feminine unfinished body.
The surprise is the top: not only that the figure stays without completed body and neck, the head is fixed directly on the half executed corpse. It is not a human one, but a duck skull. There is no formal transition. The colour contrast in between the anti-busts’ black and the yellow skull is strong. It’s a composition of a fabulous creature.
Despite the evident fracture that underlines the body without bust, the sculpture is a whole, a well-balanced creation. Not only that the head is of the same colour as the right foot, it also mirrors its movement. The sharp beak tip points in the same direction as the right leg and foot. For that, the step seems to be with ease: it’s a hybrid sculpture that walks.
Monique Thibaudin
Born 1952 in Chalon-sur-Saône (France) Monique lives and works in Vallauris (France). After a diploma at the Ecole Municipale de Dessin, Art et Technique (Municipal school of drawing, arts and techniques) in her hometown and studies of sculpture at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux Arts de Lyon (National School of Fine Arts in Lyon) she entered the Ecole d’Art et d’Architecture de Marseille Luminy (School or Fine Arts and Architecture of Marseille Luminy). Here she obtained her national diploma under Claude Viallat, followed by a specialisation in the section of Statuary at the same school.
Her decision to use the anti-bust – an antithesis of the traditional bust – as her canvas is due to the influence of her teacher in Marseille. Claude Viallat was co-founder of the artistic group “Support-Surface”, which questioned the traditional painting support. The “deconstruction” of the painting in its constituting elements led to new artistic practices: instead of using the classical canvas on chassis they dissociated the picture surface from the stretcher. They used different textiles, recycled found objects or worked on wood and strings. The traditional subject got less important and the materials, the creative motion and the final artwork shifted in the centre of their work.
Also Monique is working with diverse supports, but the base-subject is always the same. She created anti-busts inter alia from resin, tissues or on paper. When she settled after the end of her studies 1977 in Vallauris, she introduced in consequence as well ceramics in her canon of materials. Her sculptures, paintings or drawings are in all possible size. The anti-busts might be little statuettes or larger than life size and they might be composed of various materials. The results are sitting, standing or – like in our example – walking. So she is forming a rich and varied artistic work, which was shown in numerous personal and group exhibitions in France, Monaco, Germany and Italy since 1975 till today.
Additionally she cooperated with several different artists and institutions. Monique created and creates with Ben Vautier performances and joint sculptures. With him, Max Charvolen and Jean Jacques Laurent she conceived exhibitions. For Giorgio Laveri she has done scenography and film decors. Raphaël Monticelli wrote texts for her publications. Since 2015 she manages with Jean Jacques Laurent the Galerie Itinaire in Vallauris. Moreover she is represented by several galleries in France and Italy.
Especially in the last years Monique worked often on the concept of hybrid anti-busts. For that she uses in supplement to the basic form found or created objects. In consequence the artworks are multi personalities: half human, half zoomorphic or something else. Is that perhaps a hint on our multi-facetted society?