Lionel Sabatté “Clandestine Pollens” National Estate of Chambord Exhibition from May 14 to September 17, 2023
After around thirty artists, including Djamel Tatah, Georges Rousse, Philippe Cognée or Lydie Arickx, the National Estate of Chambord invites Lionel Sabatté for a residency from February 17 followed by a major exhibition from May 14 to September 17, 2023 The material of the living and the dialogue that the artist conducted with Chambord are the common threads of the exhibition. Made up of 150 works, most of which were created for this occasion, the exhibition is the artist's largest to date.
Lionel Sabatté, Lady of the Lake, 2023 © Aurélien Mole
Lionel Sabatté in residence at Chambord
From its construction, Chambord embodied a true utopia: that of a brilliant work of art which has not finished revealing all its secrets. Since 2011, the estate has been a laboratory for creation by welcoming artists and writers in residence. The castle and the domain are then enlivened by new exhibitions. The spirit of the place nourishes the inspiration and permeates the works, offering a coherent dialogue between art and the monument. The dynamics of inclusion of contemporary art and the artistic and cultural education projects offered through residencies and exhibitions are fully part of a long-term cultural program. These initiatives allow on the one hand to take a new look at Chambord and its spaces, on the other hand to contribute to thecultural transmission in rural territory.
Lionel Sabatté, Firefly Pollinator, 2022, Oil, silk fragments, dust from the Chateau de Chambord on canvas, 195 x 300 cm © Grégory Copitet.
Lionel Sabatté concentrates his thought and his work on formlessness, corrosion and devalued materials, such as rust or dust. He brings back to life what we have fallen away from. His intimate relationship with nature, animals and the Renaissance makes the artist's presence evident within the National Estate of Chambord, with its 5,540-hectare park, enclosed by a 32-kilometre-long wall, housing a abundant fauna and flora. After the Museum of Hunting and Nature, the Red House, the Museum of Natural History, the Aquarium of Paris, the MAMC + of Saint-Étienne and exhibitions in China and the United States, Lionel Sabatté will present a major project at the National Estate of Chambord after his three months of residency.
Lionel Sabatté, Bird Field, 2023 © Aurélien Mole
150 works invest the castle, the park and the French gardens
Composed of more than 150 works, most of which were conceived for the exhibition, this presentation will constitute the most important monograph of the artist to date.
In the gardens and the estate
The artist will exhibit a spectacular set of "Bird Fields": 29 sculptures of different sizes installed in the French gardens, facing the castle, including a nine-meter giant, by the yardstick of the "Chambord meter" which constitutes the measurement of the arms of the Greek cross on which the plan of the monument is based.
In the heart of the park, on the edge of a magnificent pond, Lionel Sabatté will also sculpt a large owl from which the walker will have plenty of time to observe, in the shelter, the osprey's nest and the large animals. This work, a zoomorphic observatory, will remain in Chambord after the end of the exhibition.
Lionel Sabatté, Transmitting organism, 2022, Oil, fragments of silk, dust from the Chateau de Chambord on canvas, 180 x 195 cm © Gregory Copitet. Lionel Sabatté, Organisme radian, 2022, Oil, fragments of silk, dust from the Chateau de Chambord on canvas, 180 x 195 cm © Gregory Copitet.
In the castle
Lionel Sabatté will present a set of new paintings, sometimes in large format, in which the freedom of gesture, the chromatic range and the evocative power clearly show a new stage in his work. Woven from living matter, his paintings combine fluids and chemical reactions. The artist has chosen to create a dialogue between his paintings and photographs of plants. The portraits of plants from the forest of Chambord that he took himself during the preparation phase of the project, will be worked, like the paintings, with the dust of the castle. These portraits will reveal a new part of his career. In addition, visitors familiar with Lionel Sabatté's works will find his "dust portraits",
Lionel Sabatté, Iridescent Pollinator, 2022 – Oil, fragments of silk, dust from the Chateau de Chambord on canvas, 195 x 300 cm © Gregory Copitet.
The artist will offer Chambord a monumental presentation, bringing together 100 portraits on a large picture rail in one of the arms of the cross surrounding the double-revolution staircase, inspired by Leonardo da Vinci. In another arm, five dust wolves, who caused a sensation in the Galerie de l'Évolution in 2011, will inhabit this place that their living models still frequented during the Revolution!
The artist will also exhibit new oxidized drawings, presenting a bestiary completed by sculptures, those of wolves, already mentioned, but also of bees.
Lionel Sabatté, Deception, chrysalis, 2022, Oil, fragments of silk, dust from the Chateau de Chambord on canvas, 50 x 50 cm © Gregory Copitet.
Lionel Sabatté, Chrysalis from 21-06-2022, 2022, Oil, fragments of silk, dust from the Chateau de Chambord on canvas – 160 x 130 cm © Grégory Copitet.
Useful information
Lionel Sabatté
“Clandestine Pollens” Exhibition from May 14 to September 17, 2023
National Estate of Chambord
41250 Chambord
