When I first saw these black and white images by Baptiste Debombourg I was immediately drawn to them.  I really loved the Renaissance style mural in shades of grey on the expanse of white wall, with the simple yet dramatic backdrop of the warehouse.   The use of scale is effective and I love the way the artist hasn’t contained the image with the frame of the wall and floor, but instead let the bodies escape the canvas.  

Incredible then that these images are actually created using staples (450,000 apparently in this particular one).   Breathtaking.  I can’t remember the last time I wanted to see an artwork as much as I do this one ….

until I saw the shots of Aerial also by Baptiste Debombourg.Using waves of shattered laminate glass against the backdrop of Brauweiler Abbey in Germany.  

The installation gives the effect of waves of water smashing in through the large windows.  There is greater meaning, the Abbey has had many uses, amongst them a beggar’s Institute, a concentration camp, a Gestapo prison and a mental hospital, Debombourg playing with transformation/change.  

The light flooding through the windows and shining through the glass referencing the original, spiritual use of the Abbey.  Even without the references and deeper meaning, it works for me, juxtaposed with the architecture of the Abbey,  it is simply stunning.

Avril x