Selection
2022
sculpture

Vanitas Nostrvm

cumulative sculpture

Here we are, face to face with this surprising parallelepiped telling us a story throughout the elements composing it. Using the cumulative technique, the visual and performing artist Alexandra Mas, embeds objects full of reason. They are writing, just like words, Vanitas Nostrum.

What can be more identifying and attaching than a fragrance? Yet, it evaporates with all the knowhow and the marvellous that it holds. In this same manner, sailing ships, dolls, mirrors, collection cars, pumps, accessories, laces… all this luxury…objects of our life nestling in this art work, aren’t they, ultimately, fleeting witnesses?

The composition is an oneiric voyage, allowing us to reflect on the ornaments we wear and the roles we are playing. Very direct, Alexandra Mas is showing throughout Sergio Boldrin’s masks, a whole human comedy of false pretences and emotional hideouts. We discovered it Place Vendome, Paris, in it’s embryonic state, kissed by the flowers from maison Lachaume.

Severine HARTENSTEIN

the sculpture was selected in the Salon des Artistes Francais, during Art Capital Paris. Surrounded by living Lachaume flowers and whispers about vanity collected and recomposed by the artist - voice and co composition: Mike Altrin & Alexandra Mas

voices: Valerie Fert, Kandi Spindler, Sarah Olson, Peter Hopkins, Bernard Garo, Hugues Lechanoine, Marco Tassini

on ARTSY

photo Marco Tassini

lower photos by
Christian Tarro Toma

vanitas nostrum salon des artistes francais 2022

alexandra-mas-salon.des.artistes.francais-22

lux (lat. the light)

Murano glass and gold foil sculpture

from the Aurore series

Artivism Biennale Venezia 2022 selection

represented by SHIM art network and HOHENTHAL UND BERGEN

Alexandra Mas, prolific artist, has built a career in France. What you will see here is but a tiny fraction of her work. Starting with the academic drawing, which she masters brilliantly, she traversed with bulimia a vast register of visual exploration which necessarily goes through photography and video to the most skilful digital manipulations of the image, performances or body art - work done with one's own body or that of others. The Aurore des Temps series, of which some works are exhibited, deliberately converts aestheticism into ecological activism. Beyond that, I like to see in the figures of actresses Aurore Tomé (the whole series is wearing her name) and Athule Mbekeni or her muse Alexandra Ramon y Ruiz (LUX sculpture) , strangely modified by their gold leaf garments, reminders of chryselephantine statues of antiquity. Like a new Midas king, the artist, who never ceases to seek an ideal of beauty, seems to turn everything she touches into gold, assuming the risks of reification. But the model's eye, even drowned in splendours and chromatic shifts, continues to watch, lively, confronting from conscious depths, the multiple layers of submission and the constraints insidiously imposed on the flesh, on the skin and on our bodies.

art critic Ioana VLASIU

on ARTSY

alexandra-mas-and her-lux-sculpture-paris

The King is Eating

porcelaine, Swarovski crystals, gold painted forest findings : wood, moose, bee hive fragments

from the Aurore des Temps series

A Sculptural Commentary on Human Consumption of Nature

represented by Marie BORGEL &

HOHENTHAL UND BERGEN

As the title suggests, this sculpture delves into the theme of human consumption of nature. The "king" in question symbolises the human race, portrayed not by regal attire or imposing stature, but rather by a simple yet potent representation—a nose and a gaping mouth. This "king" is not adorned with a crown or scepter but is instead depicted as a voracious creature, consuming nature with abandon.

The materials used in this sculpture are carefully chosen to emphasize its message. Porcelain, known for its delicate beauty and fragility, forms the structure of the wide-open mouth, highlighting the delicate balance between humanity and the natural world. Within this mouth, we find a juxtaposition of elements—Swarovski crystals, representing the allure of material wealth and consumption, alongside humble forest findings such as wood, moss, and bee hive fragments.

These forest findings are not mere embellishments; they serve as potent symbols of the natural world that sustains us. The wood speaks of the trees felled to make way for human progress, the moss represents the delicate ecosystems that are often overlooked, and the bee hive fragments remind us of the essential role pollinators play in our food chain. Placed within the gaping maw of the "king," these elements are swallowed whole, consumed by our insatiable appetite for more.

But amidst this portrayal of consumption and destruction, there is also a glimmer of hope. The very act of bringing elements from the nearby forest into this sculpture serves as a reminder of our connection to the natural world. It prompts us to reconsider our role as stewards of the Earth, rather than mere consumers.

In "The King is Eating," I invite you to contemplate the consequences of our actions and the choices we make as individuals and as a society. It is a call to action, urging us to reevaluate our relationship with nature and to strive for a more harmonious coexistence.

No Title

sculpture - folded aluminium and gold foil with sublichrom after the artist's paintings

49/39/40cm

This is a sculpture from the series 'Dawn of Times,' initiated in 2012, where the use of gold leaf carries a profound symbolic meaning, intimately connected to light and objectification, notably through its link to nature as a raw material. Sublimated reproductions of her own oil paintings create a fusion of visual elements. Within this intimate space, a subtle dialogue between materials and concepts is woven. Each piece is an exploration of duality, capturing both fragility and strength, light and darkness, presence and absence.

"The 'Dawn of Times' series deliberately transforms aesthetics into ecological activism. Furthermore, I see in its figures strangely modified by their gold leaf attire, echoes of the chryselephantine statues of Antiquity. (...)"

Ioana Vlasiu, art critic and historian

April 10 to October 15 2024
Manpai gallery, Bordeaux

TRIBVNALIS

sculpture - folded aluminium

At first it was folded papers, thrown into a corner of my studio in the Art Academy, things I rejected, hidden, secret. Later it has developed into folded canvases, then rigidified to finally appear Stipendium, a polychrome sculpture in 2013. (proposed by the Ticolas Show room as permanent curation ) From there the choice was clear, aluminium foil, light enough to be hand bent.