Nanopublication — Archaic Invocation through Geometric Reduction within a Sculptural Lineage
Archaic Invocation through Geometric Reduction within a Sculptural Lineage
I reduce the human face to its minimal geometric architecture — a vertical axis for the nose, horizontal slits for the eyes, a curved shell for the skull — to invoke an archaic, liturgical presence. The work situates itself within a lineage of sculptors who achieved spiritual intensity through geometric simplification: Brancusi [4]'s polished ovoids that distill the head to pure form, Modigliani [5]'s elongated faces that stretch portraiture toward the iconic, the anonymous Cycladic [6] carvers whose marble idols achieved devotional power through radical abstraction, and the medieval makers of reliquary busts whose frontal stillness served as vessels for sacred presence. Within this tradition, QUIETNESS [2] seeks its own voice — flatter, more architectural, blade-like. The closed eyes, sealed mouth, and absolute frontal stillness access a register of quietness that belongs to sacred objects and ancient devotional forms. The title names what the form enacts: not absence of sound, but a spiritual condition — contemplative, inward, almost liturgical.
Context
QUIETNESS belongs to the Untamed Creations collection, which documents my free artistic expression outside the systematic transliteration frameworks that govern the Synesthetic Explorations series. Where Synesthetic Explorations follow explicit rules, Untamed Creations allow direct sculptural thinking without codified constraints.
The archaic references are intentional and layered. Cycladic sculpture (third millennium BCE) achieves extraordinary presence through geometric simplification — flat faces, triangular noses, minimal features. Brancusi pursued a similar trajectory through different means — polishing stone and bronze until the head became an egg, a seed, a pure volume vibrating with latent life. Modigliani, deeply influenced by both African sculpture and Brancusi, elongated the face into a mask-like frontality that hovers between portrait and icon. Medieval reliquary busts reduce the saint's likeness to essential frontality, closed eyes signifying the soul's inward orientation. I draw on all of these not as quotation but as recognition: the geometric reduction of the face has always served as a vehicle for spiritual presence across cultures and centuries. The elongated vertical format — taller than it is wide, blade-like — amplifies the sense of ascension and stillness.
The piece was hand-formed in terre petite chamotte at the Profils [7] et Reliefs workshop in Paris under master ceramicist Isis Gondoin. The choice of this fine-grog clay body is consistent across my ceramic practice, providing structural integrity while allowing the precise geometric planes that define the work's formal language.
References
[1] Quercy, A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-2662-7790
https://arnaudquercy.art/en/the-artist.html
https://arnaudquercy.art/fr/artiste.html
[2] Arnaud Quercy (2024). QUIETNESS — Catalog raisonné. https://arnaudquercy.art/en/catalogue-raisonne/AQC0581.html
https://arnaudquercy.art/fr/catalogue-raisonne/AQC0581.html
[3] Quercy, A. (2024). QUIETNESS. AQC0581. Ceramic on metal, 40 × 12 × 12 cm. Untamed Creations collection. https://artquamanima.com/en/artworks/2024/01/quietness_6i6.html
[4] Brancusi, C. Sculptural works including "Muse Endormie" (1910), "Le Commencement du monde" (1924). Centre Pompidou, Paris; MoMA, New York.
[5] Modigliani, A. Sculptural heads (1911–1913). Influenced by Brancusi and African art. Various collections.
[6] Cycladic figurines, Early Bronze Age (3200–2000 BCE). National Archaeological Museum, Athens.
[7] Profils et Reliefs ceramic workshop, Paris. Master ceramicist: Isis Gondoin.
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