QUENTIN GAREL

[ENG] The opening reception, in the presence of Quentin Garel, will be held on Thursday, May 21 (6 pm-9 pm) , following the main May bank holidays. Galerie LJ is pleased to present the latest exhibition Paris of French sculptor Quentin Garel, whom the gallery has supported and represented for over 20 years. The exhibition showcases Garel’s most recent works, including wood and bronze sculptures—notably Spoonbill, Tiger, and Cockatoo skulls—as well as an unseen series of his “Palimpsestes,” which blur the lines between technical drawing and study. This exhibition also marks a significant international milestone for the artist. The opening reception will serve as the unveiling of a major permanent monumental commission for New York City. After a full year of studio work, three monumental sculptures will be installed in the heart of the American metropolis this May, in a public location to be revealed shortly. The Illusion of Matter: Between Wood and Bronze Born in Paris in 1975, a graduate of the Beaux-Arts de Paris and a former resident of the Casa de Velázquez, Quentin Garel creates a body of work where animal anatomy meets a form of speculative archaeology. His practice is rooted in a meticulous process of translation: he first carves the wood, ensuring the grain and tool marks are faithfully captured through molding. Once cast in bronze, the work creates a true optical illusion. Thanks to the expertise of the Fonderie Bocquel, the patina work is so precise that the materials become indistinguishable to the naked eye. Garel plays with senses and scales to summon a population of hybrid remains that seem to emerge from a parallel paleontological world. “ I consider myself a sculptor of form rather than concept, somewhere between dental surgery and a frantic chainsaw. “ Quentin Garel From Line to Volume: The Palimpsestes The exhibition highlights the synergy between Garel’s statuary and his drawing practice. His organic bestiary reinterprets the animal figure with a distance that was once ironic (notably in his subversion of hunting trophies) and has now become more morphological and detached. With his Palimpsestes, he reaffirms the surgical precision of his line. These charcoal and chalk studies, true life-sized logbooks, capture the breath and vitality of the animal figure and represent the genesis of his three-dimensional volumes. Citing influences ranging from Ron Mueck for his relationship with scale to Aesop’s Fables and Panamarenko’s machines, Quentin Garel continues his exploration of the complex ties between humanity and animal iconography. Based between Paris and Normandy, Garel’s work has been featured in major French institutional exhibitions, including the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (2016), the Matmut Art Center (2019), and the Domaine de Chamarande (2020). His most important monograph to date was published by Albin Michel Beaux Livres in 2019.