IX. Antonomase: the monumental sculpture by Steph Cop at the Hatchikian gallery.

As summer approaches, Hatchikian Gallery invites you to a new event, from May 23 to July 12: IX. Antonomase. The French artist Steph Cop exhibits the second part of his triptych «IX». The first part of «IX» was presented in Zurich (Kolly Gallery) in 2018.

ARO: concept of an artistic approach.

The art of Steph Cop is built around the concept of’ARO : Analysis of the Obsessive Reflex. Linguistic structure and creator of the work, ARO It is born of a singular writing where the words articulate themselves into forms and volumes. The artist finds his axis and his syntax, his way of speaking in the first person, his way of working with the ineffable. Beyond finding his place, finding his center of gravity, from which a creative energy can unfold. ARO It emerged from an imaginary cube, the support for keywords drawn from introspection. The problems of using words were finally revealed in all their depth and texture. The words take the form of sculpture. « ARO is mathematically constructed, sculpted. It owes nothing to chance; it results from an obsession, an ordered sequence, and an unfinished construction.» Steph Cop

Immersive set design.

As curator, Audrey Hatchikian imagines a veritable artistic greenhouse in which wood and bronze blend together: the raw art of an artist in perpetual introspection. The strength of the Monumental sculpture of Steph Cop Communicate with everyone. The scenography of nine sculptures all in poetry, like in a garden, invites contemplation. Wooden ARO, the incarnation of the tree in the image of its soul. Sitting next to a ARO and wait for him to tell his story for a simple wonder. This second tableau, inseparable from the entirety of the triptych, forms a parenthesis on the unfinished sculpture of a Tree, named Antonomase. Each work of Steph Cop It is an embodiment of their emotions, which have been materialized for more than ten years in centennial trees that have fallen in the heart of their natural environment, the Morvan Park.

A new creative momentum.

The research that was embodied in the series of figures ARO in this way, for the artist, it comes to an end. Steph Cop Then he draws new energy from the cube. A new creative impulse is in the making; the words take on new sculpted forms that always combine purity with the strength of gravity. The preliminary study of the volumes through drawing is an essential moment in this work. Similarly, writing and sculpture are integral parts of the work. Steph Cop, who keeps his journal daily: the architecture of words allows him to capture the fleeting thoughts that imagine the work in progress; they are an integral part of the sculpture. Each series in the artist’s work is accompanied by a book: the texts are the imagination of the work.

It is amidst the black mountains

that the dead tree marked by the centuries lies peacefully.

It is alone the story of life

of a seed that fell,

of a tree that shelters more than one mystery,

of a sealed secret.

The sculpture

Substitution of a captivating expression

It embodies the soul of the tree.

A meeting

who liberates from its massive enclosure,

Antonomase.