The Artist's Eye: Flavie Audi on Cell-(estial), Tristan Hoare Gallery
My show Cell-(estial) investigates the meeting point of natural and artificial worlds, the real and virtual. My practice finds its point of departure within the manipulation of glass. Glass plays a crucial part in contemplating a utopian future world where humans create cosmic fragments and new types of landscape formations. Geology and gemology are in complete symbiosis in this future ecosphere. Glass is omnipresent in the digital world, acting as the interface between the viewer and the virtual world.
In Cell-(estial), the visitor passes from one world to the next in two gallery spaces; one room representing the man-made and the virtual; the other embodying the natural, chaotic state. A scattered, explosive sea of galactic debris. Gemscape, a wall-mounted sculpture brings together synthetic and natural materials, including fake marble, semi-precious and synthetic stones and resin.
This seamless combination invites the viewer to consider the relative merits of each material. In an era of technological innovation that has seen the creation of flawless, synthetic diamonds, undetectable by man or machine, the work questions the definition and eclipse of ‘real’. In LCD (Lithic Crystalline Deposit), Audi creates melting glass pools of iridescent colour. The title of her works is a play on LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), the material used in most screens today, highlighting the ambiguity of the term and its geological implications.
I shifted the focus of my practice from architecture to fine arts. The point of departure has been glass and has evolved towards the manipulation of different materials such as resin and marble. I trained in architecture and craft and I want to always explore different art disciplines. Architecture is one of my main passion and it is reflected in my working methods and the focus on experimental making processes. I always think of the spatial dimension and impact of the works in space.
This new body of works embodies the concept of utopian and futuristic forms of landscape and geology. I used different media such as photography, film, resin and painting along side glassworks to investigate the points at which the natural and artificial worlds meet.
My next upcoming projects are furniture, a jewellery collaboration and a digital video work. I will keep up pushing techniques and bring craft and new technologies together to manipulate glass and other materials to create moments of beauty and dazzled encounters.
Flavie's exhibition Cell-(estial runs until Jan 9th.
Tristan Hoare Gallery | 6 Fitzroy Square, London, W1T 5HJ | +44 (0)20 7383 4484 | www.tristanhoare.co.uk
