Laetitia-May LE GUELAFF

Once Upon The Wolf...
Sculpture, Drawing

From April 11 to June 8, 2010
Exhibition Introduction:

If animals did not exist, the nature of man would be even
more incomprehensible Georges-Louis Buffon.
Between Mythology and shareholding reality, between classicism and
contemporaneousness, French sculptor Laetitia-May Le Guelaff explores
the limits of the fractures between mankind and animal.
She investigates how could one, from the point of view of form, isolate,
manage and integrate the conflict between animality and humanity in mankind.

Artist's Statement:
It’s not so much the idea of fictional working which shows through
my plastic art approach but rather more the idea of using
images (cinema, literary or artistic ) making up my imaginary to touch on
more violent significant questions. The whole through numerous textual and
iconographic searches, historical as well as philosophical, mythological,
scientific or artistic.
One of the aspects of my plastic concerns, regarding to the attraction/repulsion
games between human beings and animals but also between materials themselves,
finds expression in a sculptural practice, rooted in the ? workshop tradition ,
with a deep implication and confrontation of (the) matter.
The theme got on to, is more easily treated from the angle of hybridizations, of
chimeras (wild dreams), or all forms of linking organic and mechanical.
Leaning on legendary evocations of mythological beasts, some hybridizations become
the incarnation of our fears and our anguishes. Human beings have always tended to
use the beasts to stigmatize their mistakes, the outrageous and monstrous acts both
social and political. The use of the animal representation (of a part only or of the whole)
also finds its interest for the potential of danger included in these forms and which
reveals the constituent aggressiveness of our human nature .This tendency to try to possess, to enslave,
to control or to kill one’s fellow man constitutes a threat for the survival of the human societies.
Some of my experimentations touch on the limits of the fracture between the human being and the animal.
Throughout this questioning, it’s a quest, an identity search, which stands out. Living with
the feeling that what we are is only what we look like , is just like living in the ambivalence and
in the ever-lasting questioning of a double and dubious identity. It’s like overshadowing the Other in Self,
it’s like overshadowing the beast. But, sometimes, hidden behind the mask or behind the animal itself,
the human being succeeds in escaping from one’s nature/human condition. He identifies himself to the beast,
takes up one’s features, its abilities and gains its virtues.
In all forms of mythological imageries or in tales, animals are a kind of personification,
a projection of our behaviors. The animal, sometimes perceived as the substitute of fluffy toys,
sometimes as a weapon, allows me a sort of incarnation. It becomes a negative double symbolizing
a repressed urge and the movements of the unconscious, a support for the expressions of anguishes linked to
the body and to the concern (anxiety) joined up with the states of identity.
How can few forms refer to different imaginaries, to a real personal thematic, from poetry to horror
How can we question their plausibility if it’s not through setting them in Nature

Artistic, literary and film references:
Louise Bourgeois, Kiki Smith, Jana Sterback, Hélène Chadwick,
Rebecca Horn, Barbara Hepworth, Mathew Barney, Ian Fabre, Anish Kapoor, Brancusi, Cathy de Monchaux,
Lynda Bengalis ( Parenthesis 1975), Eva Hesse, Claude Cahun, Oleg Kulig, Annette Messager, Jeff Koons,
Ivan Kafka From Nowhere to Nowhere , William Blake, Edgar Allan Poe, Oscar Wilde, Hitchcock, David Cronenberg,
Tim Burton, Hayao Miyazaki, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Christophe Gans, James Cameron

Artist CV:
Y.O.B. 1980 (Quimper, France)
Education
2004-2005: Preparation for the competitive entry examination: Plastic Art Agregation- Université de Rennes II.
2003 : D.N.S.E.P. ( Diplome National Supérieur d’Expression Plastique ) option Highly commanded at ? Ecole Supérieur des Beaux Arts de Cornouaille (E.S.B.A.C.) in Quimper.
2001- 2002: Six-month period of studies at the University of Quebec in Montreal.
2001: National Diploma of Plastic Arts at E.S.B.A.C., Quimper.
1998: Secondary School Examination giving entrance qualification , option Plastic Arts with distinctions.
Other: 2007-2008: Intensive training (6 months) in Breton-speaking at Stumdi - Landerneau
Exhibitions & Art activities
2010
Once upon The Wolf, Solo Exhibition, Imagine Gallery, Beijing, China
3 month residence and exposures at Image Gallery, Beijing, China
2009
Group exhibition at Forum des Arts in St Malo in the Tower Bidouane, France
Group exhibition Médiévale et féerique in Chateaugiron (Galerie Pigment et Matière), France
2003-2009
Participation in operation exhibitions Portes ouvertes - Ateliers d’artistes organized by the regional council of Finistère (Loctudy, Quimper, Guengat), France
2008
Illustration of a story for kids in the magazine Rouzig, France
Illustrations of bookmarks for the Association Tir ar Vro, France
Illustration of the 4th of cover of the magazine Spered Gouez , France
2007
Creation and realization of the standart of the Breizlanders, France
Exhibition Z.O.O.O. ( Zone d’Observation Ontologique et Onirique), Salon des Arts Mélangés in Chateaulin, France
Creation of the Tiker mascot for the International and Celtic tournement of Rugby school- R2L(visual communication and tee-shirts), France
2006
Creation of the bill for the theatre play ? L’Eveil des Korrigans , France
Creation of the Artistic Group S.C.R.A.T with Caroline Gillot, France
2005
Evolutive and Modular Exhibition C.O.S.M.E, Galerie Artem, Quimper, France
2004
Group exhibition Sens Dessus Dessous, Pontaven, France
Group exhibition La Forêt, Theatre de cornouaille, Quimper, France
Group exhibition Pakékado, Galerie Artem, Quimper, France
2003
Student of the 5th year group exhibition: E.S.B.A.C, Quimper, France
Group exhibition Tel chien, Tel Ma?tre, La Galerie, E.S.B.A.C., Quimper, France
2002
Individual exhibition Metamorphoses, Ulamir e Bro Glazik, Plonéis, France
Conception of costumes for the theatre play Der Bau, after Franz Kafka, France
Production: Ga?tan Paré; Original music: Pierre Lapointe. Presented at Alkalize by
Gentafam Company, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
Group exhibition Portes Ouvertes, Mediatic and visual Arts School of University of Quebec in Montreal.
2001
Group exhibition CHANTIER- A vous de jouer at Cornouaille theatre, Quimper & Publication, France
2000
Participation in the Exposure Graphistes autour du monde (Month of Graphism of Echirolles)
Conception of a poster and publication.
Creation of the Festival Chromatic - group exhibition Rythmes et Voix, Saint Evarzec.
1999
Conception of a metallic sculpture for the public city gardens of Quimper, France
Group exhibition Baptême de l’art, Local Library for youngsters, Quimper, France

Published Works
3 group publications (Lithographic publication: Chantier, 2001 / Catalogue of exhibition:
graphistes autour du Monde, 2001 / D.N.S.E.P catalogue, 2003)

Various editings of exhibitions
En Forme la Forme (Richard Fauguet, Jean-Pierre Gauthier, Olivier Gourvil, Radi Designer;
Imaginaires Contemporains du Corps(2) : Entre Chien et Loup (Michel Blazy, Paul Mac Carthy,
Oleg Kulik, Saverio Lucariello, Gaetano Pesce, Cindy Sherman...); Danielle Vallet Kleiner / Paola Salerno...