Bleu Glacé, Lexique des paysages islandais
(Bleu Glacé, Lexicon of Icelandic Landscapes)
2016
Bleu Glacé,
catalogue d’exposition
March 15- April 5, 2020.
40 pages
Format 150 x 210 mm
Photos,Texts and Graphic Design:
Manon Lanjouère
700 copies
Bleu Glacé is a cabinet of curiosities, a "scientific" study that synthetically reconstructs the Icelandic landscape. The use of synthetic materials is there to question our use of plastics, resins and polymers exponentially on a daily basis, and how this can change the long-term geological landscapes of the world around us? The focus on Iceland is mainly due to the technical components of its geology. "Its landscapes are a wonderful lesson in geology, the catalogue of the Redoubt of Volcanic and Glacial Forms." writes Michel Tournier in his novel Les Météores. Bleu Glacé is a catalogue of landscapes that everyone can imagine themselves seeing in Iceland, a catalogue for a motionless traveller, a livingroom room traveller.
The imagination reveals the object we think of and desire, now, in front of us, allowing our eyes to take possession of it. The resulting image is a synthesis of interiority, rebuilt in the studio. The object is absent, but all its qualities are in front of us, the impression is present, as well as the characters who unintentionally resemble human beings but are only characters.
In these objects I produce, everyone is free to see a waterfall, an iceberg, plastic sheeting, or polystyrene. The imitation is only partial, since only a few elements are reproduced. However, this is sufficient to give the shape as constructed a representative value. The concept then appears. The images as created summon and question this "kind of primordial ardour of waters, wind, clouds, colours projected in a pure state on the sky and horizons" that Samivel describes in his book Golden Iceland. Bleu Glacé aims to represent this mythical place, a land as yet unknown.
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
The imagination reveals the object we think of and desire, now, in front of us, allowing our eyes to take possession of it. The resulting image is a synthesis of interiority, rebuilt in the studio. The object is absent, but all its qualities are in front of us, the impression is present, as well as the characters who unintentionally resemble human beings but are only characters.
In these objects I produce, everyone is free to see a waterfall, an iceberg, plastic sheeting, or polystyrene. The imitation is only partial, since only a few elements are reproduced. However, this is sufficient to give the shape as constructed a representative value. The concept then appears. The images as created summon and question this "kind of primordial ardour of waters, wind, clouds, colours projected in a pure state on the sky and horizons" that Samivel describes in his book Golden Iceland. Bleu Glacé aims to represent this mythical place, a land as yet unknown.
exhibition view at Benaki Museum in Athens, GREECE, 2019
