Van Kal Mon (1961) - Code noir

« A very beautiful piece by Gérard Van Kal Mon, which I acquired in the early 2000s, when I was in La Réunion. It is one of his early works. »
The early artistic productions of Gérard Van Kal Mon, in the 1980s, begin with photographic work on the accumulations of objects, then on the exotic wooden beads (traces of humans, markings…)
In the 1990s, after his settlement on the island of La Réunion, he takes up sculpture, marking the beginning of a body of work on the arts of the primal with wood, clay, plaster as mediums… To create a color palette, he develops a fumage technique based on different tree species…
He returns to the subject of accumulations by using slender clay figures. These will be used for installations and happenings…
Then comes the start of a body of work on slavery with the assembly of metal pieces mainly sourced from agricultural tools. It was not a matter of illustrating this subject with the chains that enslave man but of paying homage to the cultures of these enslaved peoples by highlighting the majesty of individuals, the beauty of the headdresses, the adornments of African ethnic groups…
Year 2011, return to the south of France and continuation of the work undertaken on slavery called “Code noir” and a new subject “Guerre et paix” (War and Peace), a series of sculptures on masculine war adornment, with an ever greater refinement in the metal assembly up to today where metal comes to life, lets light pass through, where the sculpture becomes “haute couture”…