Christian Lapie
Christian Lapie studied first in Reims (1972- 1977) then in Paris (1977-1979). Having started out as a painter, working in chalk, oxides and ash on rough sheets of canvas mounted on rudimentary frames, he later turned to materials such as sheet metal, cement and charred wood. Time spent in the Amazon jungle triggered the need to create more monumental sculptures, and soon figures made of rough, scorched wood were to appear in the Champagne area where he lives, illustrating the bloody history of its First World War battlefields. His subject matter is universal, a profound contemplation of our relationship with the world and our own identity. Lapie’s very basic – rudimentary even – working techniques forever capture an unforgettable image, close yet at the same time distant, of a primary “being in the world”. Artists like Lapie, whose work consists in changing the landscape in some way, are nomadic by definition. 9 sculptures in the gardens.